Newsom Welcomes New Lowe's Store To San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - San Francisco's Bayshore Boulevard is now home to a giant Lowe's store.

When the proposal was made for the store at the old Goodman Lumber location, the battle lines were drawn and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom was at the time a supervisor.

"We were all over the city having community meetings about the fate and future of San Francisco," he said. "And what kind of city we wanted. Were we a city of neighborhoods or are we just going to find a suburbanized San Francisco as our future."

KCBS' Susan Kennedy Reports:

San Francisco officials managed to get Home Depot to make major commitments to the city and the project was approved. However,  Home Depot bailed out and Lowe's stepped in, agreeing to community commitments, starting with jobs.

Repeka Wilson is among the 200 local employees.

"A lot of people here got hired around the area, which is a good thing," she said. "We're very excited."

And the customers seem to be happy too. Store manager Gina Meacham said every customer has had positive comments since they opened.

"All this hard work, to have them all come in and be excited for us made it worth it," she said.

Lowe's also handed out $6,000 in checks to Thurgood Marshall High School and the San Francisco Clean City Coalition as part of its commitment to the community.

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