{"id":476607,"date":"2026-09-26T16:42:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T16:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/476607\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T16:42:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T16:42:18","slug":"despite-resistance-s-f-approves-therapy-stores-on-clement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/476607\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite resistance, S.F. approves Therapy Stores on Clement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The San Francisco planning commission voted Thursday to grant Therapy Stores, a gift shop with 10 locations around the Bay Area, permission to open its 11th outpost in the Inner Richmond.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That number would not ordinarily require a special hearing under San Francisco\u2019s \u201cformula retail\u201d law, which curbs retail chains and is generally triggered after 11 locations, not 10.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Jing Chen, Therapy Stores\u2019 owner, had 11 stores when she applied and, even though her store in San Bruno subsequently closed, the city\u2019s planning code \u201calso counts locations entitled for operating,\u201d not just ones currently open, Chen said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cRather than arguing any technicalities, both we and [the planning department] thought it better to engage with the community\u201d and go to the planning commission for the Clement Street location, Chen wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Members of the Clement Street Merchants Association, who have been organizing to <a href=\"https:\/\/missionlocal.org\/2026\/09\/therapy-stores-clement-street-merchants\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">kill the expansion<\/a>, told Mission Local they would consider appealing the decision.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chen made her case a few minutes into the hour-long hearing over the proposed location at 32 Clement St. near Second Avenue, which has been vacant since 2024, according to city planner Sylvia Jimenez.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf there\u2019s a chain, this is the chain. I am the chain,\u201d Chen said. She applied for a conditional use authorization in May. \u201cI\u2019m not some faceless monster that some try to portray me to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those words were a pre-emptive defense; some subsequent comments turned highly personal against Chen. One Clement Street vintage shop owner, Lindsey Hansen, called Chen \u201cdishonest and unneighborly.\u201d Hansen was one of five merchants who spoke out against Therapy Stores Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHow does allowing a formula retail chain that carries the exact same stuffies, onesies, S.F. merch, hats, hair clips, candles, cards, socks and jewelry lines as several other existing businesses within the same three blocks fill a need?\u201d asked Amanda Weld, who owns Tantrum toy store.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Five people spoke in favor of Chen. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One, a neighbor of Chen\u2019s, came to her defense, saying, \u201cShe loves her community. She loves people.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She and others spoke of Chen\u2019s generosity and charitable donations she has made. Sales agent Rick Salazar said he had worked with Chen for years, and felt her original location in the Mission was \u201cresponsible for the renaissance on Valencia Street.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI feel very uncomfortable by the fact,\u201d Commissioner Mike Chen said later, \u201cthat we are being asked to decide this on the basis of character attestation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think, in some ways, we\u2019re judging people, and not necessarily whether this is good for the city,\u201d he added, saying he perceived the 11th location of a local chain as different from an outpost of a national retailer. \u201cI\u2019m inclined to approve, with conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Clement Street merchants have long opposed the proposed store, and have not been shy in sounding the alarm around what they perceive to be dubious business practices by Chen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chen bought the 32 Clement St. building in December 2025 for just shy of $2 million, and registered her business there that same month. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Clement Street merchants complained to the city after Mission Local reported the <a href=\"https:\/\/missionlocal.org\/2026\/03\/sf-inner-sunset-therapy-stores-progress-hardware\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">opening<\/a> of Therapy\u2019s then-11th location on Irving Street, arguing that the Clement location, which would have been number 12, would make the business a chain. One location has since shuttered, making the proposed Inner Richmond location an 11th spot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Commissioners eventually agreed that Chen\u2019s business poses no inherent threat to the businesses there, and voted unanimously to move her a step closer toward opening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chen has promised to work with Clement Street merchants to ensure her offerings don\u2019t overlap with theirs, though planning staff said at the hearing \u201cwe cannot dictate what a particular shop sells.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Commissioner Sean McGarry, who said he has lived in the Inner Richmond since 2011, said he understood concerns around competition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But, the Irish-accented commissioner said bluntly, \u201cNeighbors are neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOne neighbor cannot just tell another what they can do and what they cannot do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Francisco planning commission voted Thursday to grant Therapy Stores, a gift shop with 10 locations around&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[387,976,101,103,102,69371,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-476607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-business","tag-richmond","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-san-francisco-planning-department","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476607","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=476607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}