During two weeks of frenzied treasure hunting through the south of France in June, Laurie Cain Furber filled a 20-foot shipping container with “beautiful pieces” to be shipped to her East Bay store, Elsie Green. Among them were a vintage oak dresser, antique flower art, and artisanal stoneware.
She didn’t know that by the time that container arrived in the U.S. in early October, she would be on the cusp of opening a new shop in downtown San Francisco.
“It’s so exciting — a lot of those fresh items will go directly into the city store,” she said.
Furber will open an outpost of her French vintage and made-to-order furniture shop on Oct. 17 at One Embarcadero Center, thanks to the city’s Vacant to Vibrant program (opens in new tab). Many of the small businesses and restaurants that have opened in deserted downtown storefronts over the past few years have gotten funds and permitting assistance through the initiative.
Furber connected with SF New Deal, the nonprofit that runs it, after seeing it mentioned on Mayor Daniel Lurie’s Instagram account. She went from an intro conversation to signing a lease within a whirlwind few months.
She has committed to three months at the shopping center but has the option to extend.
“It takes the fear out of taking the leap of opening a store,” she said. “I feel very optimistic that it will give me the information I need to make a decision about whether having a city store is the right thing for me.”
Laurie Cain Furber will open her store inside One Embarcadero Center. | Source: Courtesy of Laurie Cain Furber
Her landlord, BXP, has partnered with several other Vacant to Vibrant tenants at the sprawling Embarcadero Center complex in the past, including Devil’s Teeth Bakery and Whack Donuts. As San Francisco’s largest office landlord, BXP has said that it cares more about energizing the area for its corporate tenants than it does about charging market-rate rent for retail space right away.
Both Devil’s Teeth and Whack Donuts are Vacant to Vibrant success stories, signing on to stay in the building after their pop-up leases expired. Since the program launched in 2023, it has shepherded more than 30 small businesses into spaces downtown. Of those, 23 are currently open, and 10 have signed long-term leases. SF New Deal brought the concept to the Inner Sunset this summer and is fundraising to expand to other neighborhoods. The model’s success has spurred a copycat initiative (opens in new tab) in downtown Los Angeles. (opens in new tab)
Elsie Green will have made-to-order furniture and | Source: Courtesy of Elsie Green
Since the initiative’s debut, “rents are changing, and the available spaces are changing,” said SF New Deal’s executive director, Simon Bertrang. Instead of launching nearly a dozen pop-ups at once, like it did originally, the program plans to roll out new business openings sporadically as it plays matchmaker between property owners and entrepreneurs. Small businesses “are rewriting the story” of downtown, he added.
In addition to Vacant to Vibrant, San Francisco’s battle against vacant commercial spaces includes “storefront opportunity grants” (opens in new tab) dispensed through the Office of Economic and Workforce Development and the Downtown Business Fund (opens in new tab), which is spearheaded by a Lurie-aligned nonprofit.
For Furber, not having to worry about permits or leasing allows her to focus on executing her vision for the shop. She wants it to embody a French kitchen aesthetic, selling products one would need to host a très chic dinner party, from hand-dyed napkins and serving dishes to a midcentury modern sofa draped in yellow wool. “We’ll have everything you need for entertaining.”
She has started spreading the news to customers that they’ll be able to choose between the Concord store and the SF location.
“Concord feels like Mars when you’re living in Marin,” she said. “Being more accessible is a big part of the appeal.”