SF closing designated site for Mission Street vendors

Dan Kerman
·2 min read

(KRON)—In November, San Francisco stopped street vending along Mission Street due to crime and safety issues. The city then set up two temporary sites for legitimate vendors.

One of the two temporary sites was an indoor storefront at Mission Street near 18th called El Tiangue. Vendors say the problem with El Tiangue is that shoppers have been scarce, and sales have been dismal.

“We cannot sell almost nothing,” a Mission Street vendor told KRON4 on Friday. “It’s been very, very slow.”

Now, this indoor shopping site is slated to close in just over a week.

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“At the end of the day, the sales did not pick up in the way that they expected or that we expected. And so that’s why we’re shifting our strategy here again, with it as a partnership with them to try and really focus on one site and really improving the sales there,” Diana Ponce De Leon, Director of Community Economic Development, told KRON4.

The other vendor site is located at an outdoor parking lot at 24th and Capp. The site known as La Placita had until recently been home to both street vendors and COVID testing. Going forward, the site will expand and focus solely on street vendors in hopes of attracting additional vendors and shoppers.

“So that’s the goal: We will have 20 vendors there in La Placita selling a variety of products with more visibility,” De Leon said.

Word about the expansion of the La Placita site hadn’t reached all of the vendors at El Tiangue, who were still weighing their options.

“I may go to the food market in Oakland or find something else to do. I can do nothing, no choice for me, no choice for all,” a Mission Street vendor said.

The city is also in the process of renovating another indoor storefront at Mission and 17th which could open to vendors sometime this summer.

Ultimately, the city’s goal is to allow street vending again, but at this point, it doesn’t have the resources to either keep it safe or differentiate between legal sellers and those selling stolen goods.

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