The closest grocery store to USF, Lucky Supermarket, located on Fulton St. is set to close on Sept. 11, 2026. After this location’s closure, only one Lucky Supermarket will be left in San Francisco, on Sloat Blvd in Lakeshore. For USF students, this store’s closing means the nearest grocery stores (Target, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods) will be at least 0.5 miles from lower campus, making grocery options near campus slimmer and less accessible. Late last year, the Foghorn reported that 48.7% of respondents in a 232 person survey done by Professor Brian Dowd-Uribe’s Global Food Security course reported having “low or very low food security.” This has also been exacerbated by cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Having one less affordable grocery store near campus means students spending more money and taking more time out of their day to get their basic needs met.
Lucky’s closure reflects a growing trend in San Francisco, where affordable grocery stores are disappearing due to economic pressures and shifting market priorities. In a statement to the SF Chronicle, Save Mart representative Phil Keene wrote, “Closing a store is not a decision we take lightly, but this store has had performance issues for an extended period of time…We have worked to enhance and remodel the location, but it has not shown the sales and profit needed to continue operations. In fact, despite the best efforts of a great team, we have lost money year over year at this location.” The 48 employees at the location will lose their jobs in September, with some staff able to transfer to other stores. Beyond Lucky’s Fulton St. location closure, its Bayview store, once the neighborhood’s only major supermarket, closed last year, and Safeway shutting down its Fillmore location has led city officials to pursue easier pathways for replacement grocers. It’s no secret that San Francisco has some of the highest grocery prices and cost of living in the country; because of this, the median household income is the second highest in the nation, making the city a prime location for high-end grocery stores like Whole Foods and Bi-Rite. However, these higher-end stores do not provide the same range of affordable essential items and are less convenient to get to from campus, making grocery shopping more complicated and time-consuming for students.
Students living both on and off campus will be impacted by the closure of Lucky’s. Anneliese Noonan, junior Biology major remarked, “As someone who doesn’t live on campus and I don’t have Flexi cash, I really don’t eat on campus, at all, so Lucky was a nicer alternative. I could get a pretty cheap sandwich or snacks or drinks, and not have to pay on-campus pricing.” Students have to decide between convenience and pricing in their dining options. Senior International Business and Business Analytics double major, Hannah Keranko said her grocery shopping will “need to be more sporadic, so I will need to plan out further, which is annoying when I’m out of, like, one thing. And I can’t just go to Lucky’s to go grab it.”
Beyond the impact on USF students, this Lucky supermarket location closing raises broader concerns for the larger community surrounding campus. For seniors and low-income individuals in particular, the loss of a nearby one-stop shop, especially with an attached pharmacy, removes a critical resource some people rely on. Residents of the neighborhood have expressed their concerns online about the store’s closure, with some noting the possibility of a forming food desert, which refers to an area where close, affordable and healthy grocery options are scarce. Reddit user Belgand wrote on the wall about Lucky’s closure, “The only full service grocery store within walking distance is going away. Expensive? It’s definitely not as expensive as having to shop at Gus’ or Whole Foods, and that’s what this closure is doing to the neighborhood.” On the SF Chronicle’s Instagram post announcing the location’s closure, user @itsmetina wrote, “Seriously with Safeway gone. It’s a grocery desert. I can’t afford bi-rite every week.” As more mid-range grocery stores disappear, the city’s food landscape is becoming increasingly more divided between those who can afford convenience and those who cannot.
