Even if merchants wanted to improve their offerings, they note, the Tenderloin\u2019s low-income customer base already has other options, including a network of food banks where residents can pick up free produce and other staples and a twice-a-week farmer\u2019s market at Civic Center with competitive prices.<\/p>\n
Mahmood\u2019s plan for participating stores \u2013 introduced at the Board of Supervisors in late July <\/a>\u2013 would revive a short-lived corner store conversion program in 2016 known as Healthy Retail SF<\/a>, which aimed to reduce\u00a0 alcohol and tobacco to 20 percent of merchants\u2019 sales and increase the space for fresh produce to 35 percent.\u00a0<\/p>\n The pilot program converted 10 stores citywide, including five in the Tenderloin.\u00a0 The city paid roughly $25,000 to cover part of each store\u2019s physical upgrades and design services; Mahmood said he plans to increase that sum to adjust for inflation.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFood prices have obviously gone up. Infrastructure costs have gone up. So we\u2019ll be making assessments as we move forward,\u201d Mahmood said last week about his draft request to resurrect the program.\u00a0<\/p>\n But even with that help, some owners said adding produce doesn\u2019t pencil out or fails to make sense for other reasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lynn, for example, said she already stocks basics like lemons, limes, and bananas so that the store can qualify to accept\u00a0EBT customers. But the produce often goes bad before anybody buys it.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rafeek Algahim who runs El Dorado Market at 124 Jones St, said his customer base is largely unhoused residents.\u00a0And, like many corner stores, space is limited.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not saying it wouldn\u2019t work\u2026 But the store is small, so it\u2019s hard to imagine where I would fit fruits and vegetables in,\u201d said Algahim.\u00a0 Moreover, he added, buying produce in small quantities makes it hard to price competitively.<\/p>\n Other storekeepers\u00a0agree. A 2018 UC Berkeley study of Tenderloin merchants who declined to join the city\u2019s first effort in 2016 <\/a>\u00a0found, while most weren\u2019t opposed to its goals, they doubted it would work for them.\u00a0<\/p>\n Of 17 non-participating merchants interviewed for the study, 11 said they weren\u2019t interested, citing failed past attempts to sell healthier products, doubts about customer demand, and fear that meeting the program\u2019s requirements would hurt their bottom line. Cigarettes and liquor make money; vegetables often don\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n Several owners described losing money on produce that went bad for lack of demand. \u201cI buy $15 bags of [produce] and sell maybe 2-3 pieces and put the rest in the garbage,\u201d one owner said.<\/p>\n Another owner pointed to price as a major issue for customers. \u201cTenderloin residents barely have money to pay for rent, let alone healthy food,\u201d one said, noting that a Little Debbie snack cake costs under a dollar.<\/p>\n Lynn agreed: Little Debbie snacks, she said, are by far her most popular item.\u00a0<\/p>\n Whole Foods, the last full-service grocery store near the Tenderloin, closed in 2023 after little more than a year. Another, Cala Foods, closed in 2011.\u00a0 Other full-service grocery stores that survive \u2013 Trader Joe\u2019s and Safeway \u2013 are on the periphery of the Tenderloin.<\/p>\n Still, for the four stores that did opt into the program in 2016, the program has worked well. Dalda\u2019s Community Market on 18 Eddy St., for example, has fresh fruit like apples, melons, and oranges, and holds shelf staples like brown rice, low-sodium canned soup, and fat-free salad dressings\u2013 Tenderloin shelf rarities.<\/p>\n Stores that completed the program, according to the 2018 study,\u00a0 saw produce climb from 6% to 12% of total sales, and sold an average of 21,000 additional units of produce over three years.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Fadhl Radman\u2019s Radman\u2019s Market, on Turk Street, is one of the program\u2019s early success stories, opening with vegetables for sale in August 2017<\/a>. On a recent weekday, shelves that once mostly held\u00a0 packaged snacks and candy, now carry parsley, carrots, and peppers. It wasn\u2019t as extensive as a grocery store, but also offered some protein like bacon and sausage, and dairy products like cheese and milk.\u00a0<\/p>\n He said the store had a healthier atmosphere, too. \u201cWhen families walk in here, they feel like they can let their children roam freely. And they can mind their own business, pick their fresh vegetables and stuff,\u201d Radman said. He had never sold tobacco and alcohol, so his store\u2019s income and customer make-up were unaffected.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Satwinder Multani, owner of Dalda\u2019s Community Market, said partnering with the Healthy Retail Program forced him to modify his sales of alcohol; shot-sized and pint bottles are out. Multani said he made up the loss through the increase in fresh produce sales. \u201cYou also need to make sacrifices like this for the sake of the community, not just legislation,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe data shows that with investment, these companies and storefronts have been profitable since\u2026 It\u2019s a very high return on investment for both the store and the community,\u201d Mahmood said.<\/p>\n Even so, merchants in the study expressed a deep skepticism that no amount of shelving or refrigeration can fix a customer base that can\u2019t reliably afford or want the product.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEvery store has a niche. There\u2019s a store down the street that has the cheapest beer in the neighborhood, and if you want produce, you go to Amigo\u2019s,\u201d Lynn said, referring\u00a0 to one of the stores already signed up with the Healthy Retail Program. \u201cWhy would I want to compete with someone who already has a customer base for what they sell?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s also Start & Save Market on 4015 Eddy St. that sells mostly meat products.\u00a0<\/p>\n For now, families and others in search of fresh fruit and vegetables outside the Healthy Retail Program also use the farmer\u2019s market at Civic Center on Wednesdays and Saturdays.\u00a0 Those facing food insecurity can visit one of the free daily food giveaways at GLIDE<\/a> memorial church, or one of the nearby neighborhood food pantries in partnership with the SF Marin Foodbank.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n The latter was a feature that several merchants pointed to in the 2018 study. \u201cWhy would people buy produce from us if they can get it for free?\u201d asked one store owner.\u00a0 Another agreed: \u201cnot enough people buy [fresh produce] here because they get them at [a local church].\u201d<\/p>\n San Francisco isn\u2019t alone in trying this approach. As of 2016, 11 states and Washington, D.C.<\/a> had enacted healthy food retail legislation, with California, Oklahoma, and D.C. specifically including provisions for convenience stores.\u00a0<\/p>\n The most established model is in Philadelphia, where the nonprofit Food Trust launched its Healthy Corner Store Initiative <\/a>as a pilot in 2004 and folded it into the city\u2019s Department of Public Health a few years later, expanding it rapidly citywide.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/072026_ZM_TenderloinCornerStores-26-930x620.jpg\")
The exterior of Amigo\u2019s Market, one of the corner stores partnered with Healthy Retail SF, on July 28, 2026. Photo by Zoe Malen.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/072026_ZM_TenderloinCornerStores-60-930x620.jpg\")
Gopal, employee at Dalda\u2019s Community Market on July 28, 2026. Photo by Zoe Malen.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/072026_ZM_TenderloinCornerStores-53-930x620.jpg\")
A customer shops in Dalda\u2019s Community Market on July 28, 2026. Photo by Zoe Malen.<\/p>\n