It's never easy for a massive chain to sneak a store into famously chain-averse San Francisco but, for a while, pet supply giant Petco looked like it might be able to get one into a Richmond District location on Geary and 18th Avenue.
However, it was not to be.
Earlier this week the Board of Supervisors approved legislation banning chain pet supply stores from opening in the immediate area surrounding the former Walgreens storefront where the Petco was slated to open--a move aimed directly at blocking this particular retailer from coming into the neighborhood.
The Examiner reports:
The Supervisor Eric Mar, who introduced the legislation, said the ban protects smaller, independently owned pet shops in the area. Supervisor Scott Wiener opposed the legislation along with Supervisors Sean Elsbernd and Carmen Chu. Wiener said it was a mistake to change the rules and instead Mar should let the application run its course using the existing voter-approved process.
While Petco applied for a permit to open the store in February, local opposition to the San Diego-based chain sprouted almost from the moment the store was announced. "We're not supportive of formula retail coming in and poaching business from small, locally owned stores," Kathleen Dooley, a member of San Francisco's Small Business Commission, told the Planning Association for Richmond in a January press release. "Their ability to have predatory pricing and undercut small businesses is bad for our neighborhood corridors."
A measure passed by San Francisco voters in 2006, mandated business with over ten locations be granted a conditional use permit by the city's Planning Commission in order to move in. This ruling circumvented that measure and blocked Petco from moving in even before the commission has a chance to decide if he new business would be "necessary and desirable," which are the qualifications upon which the commission bases their decisions.
As of this May, when the measure was still making its way though city government, Petco promised it wouldn't surrender without a fight. SF Appeal reports:
For their part, Petco has vowed to do whatever it takes to fight the legislation. "The proposed ordinance exceeds the city's police power," said a lawyer representing the San Diego-based company. "[It] infringes on the project sponsor's equal protection rights and, if enacted, would be invalid under federal and state law."
Petco already operates two San Francisco locations--one one 16th Street in Potrero Hill and on Sloat in the Outer Sunset.