{"id":222095,"date":"2026-03-16T13:43:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T13:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/222095\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T13:43:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T13:43:15","slug":"has-sunset-dunes-helped-local-businesses-one-year-in-it-depends-who-you-ask","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/222095\/","title":{"rendered":"Has Sunset Dunes helped local businesses? One year in, it depends who you ask"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since the Great Highway was transformed from a roadway into Sunset Dunes, the park\u2019s supporters have heralded it as a paradise for bikers, skaters, and families.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the park is immensely popular, having drawn 1.2 million visits since its grand opening April 12, with an average of 3,700 visitors on weekdays and 13,400 on weekends, according to the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department.<\/p>\n

You\u2019d think all that foot traffic would translate into a bump in sales for nearby businesses, as the Dunes\u2019 boosters have claimed<\/a>. But nearly one year in, it hasn\u2019t been a boon for everyone.<\/p>\n

While cafes generally report an uptick in revenue since the two-mile stretch of the Great Highway closed to cars on March 15, 2025, restaurants and retailers have generally seen flat or lower sales, owners say.<\/p>\n

Andytown Coffee Roasters CEO Lauren Crabbe said revenue has spiked between 15% and 20% at its three Outer Sunset locations during that period, but at the Outer Richmond cafe north of the park on Great Highway, near Cabrillo Street, they are up 0.03%.<\/p>\n

Crabbe said the park has brought more tourists and people from around the city to the Sunset, thanks to the skate park, murals, and other attractions. \u201cI do think the park made [the Sunset]\u00a0 more of a destination,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"ThreeFrom left to right, Cynthia Tom, Joey Lee, and Max Weinberg, work together in Andytown Coffee Roasters in the Outer Sunset. | Source: Tam Vu\/The Standard<\/p>\n

Sales at Black Bird Bookstore & Caf\u00e9 are up 44%, according to owner Kathryn Grantham.<\/p>\n

Tuesdays, historically the slowest day of the week, have seen both book and coffee sales increase 60% since the park opened, Grantham said, adding, \u201cIt\u2019s been nuts.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other restaurants, retailers, and bars have seen mixed results from the park\u2019s debut.<\/p>\n

Tunnel Records on Taraval Street experienced a 17% drop in revenue between March 15, 2025, and Feb. 28, 2026, compared with the same period one year earlier, according to its point-of-sale data.<\/p>\n

Owner Ben Wintroub said his store is a destination for record collectors \u2014 not a business that attracts passersby. He believes there is less parking near his store because the Great Highway, which used to be an arterial road for locals, is now a destination that people drive to from all over the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s made people think twice about coming to the Taraval corridor,\u201d Wintroub said.<\/p>\n

Matt Lopez, who owns White Cap on Taraval and Pitt\u2019s Pub on Noriega Street, both a short walk from the park, has seen a negligible impact. Across his two bars, the increase and decrease in sales basically cancel each other out.<\/p>\n

Gross sales at Pitt\u2019s in the year the park has been open rose from 3.9% to $721,000, while Whitecap\u2019s fell 3.9% to $618,000, Lopez said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe numbers at my bars haven\u2019t changed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"AMatt Lopez says revenue at his two bars is flat since Sunset Dunes debuted. | Source: Morgan Ellis\/The Standard<\/p>\n

French bistro Galinette, located at 46th and Taraval, has seen a 2% year-over-year increase in sales, owner Julie Fulton said. \u201cA couple thousand [dollars] difference, like, literally nothing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Roughly 80% of the bistro\u2019s clientele is regulars and locals, she said, adding that she doesn\u2019t see park visitors stroll in for a bite, not even for \u201cLe Burger. (opens in new tab)<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the weather that leads to us being busy or not busy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Julie Fulton says the increase in sales has been negligible at Galinette. | Source: Camille Cohen for The Standard<\/p>\n

Still, some full-service restaurants have seen an uptick since the park opened, but owners didn\u2019t attribute it to the park itself.<\/p>\n

Thanh Long co-owner Ken Lew said sales at the restaurant are up 22% year over year, but only because they picked up significantly late last year, surging 30% since November.<\/p>\n

Lew attributed the improvement to a decline in the number of unhoused people in the area. During the pandemic, he said, four or five people were often camping at the bus stop across from the restaurant at 46th Avenue and Judah Street. Now, he said, he only occasionally sees one or two homeless people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure the Great Highway affects us too much, since we\u2019re a destination restaurant,\u201d Lew said.<\/p>\n

Though Lew\u2019s restaurant is only three blocks from Sunset Dunes, it\u2019s far from his mind. In fact, he has never been.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a little out of the way,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I go to work, I stay at the restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since the Great Highway was transformed from a roadway into Sunset Dunes, the park\u2019s supporters have heralded it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[9386,101,103,102,104,106,105,4823,27669],"class_list":["post-222095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-great-highway","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-small-business","tag-sunset-district"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}