San Francisco supervisor wants to tax large-chain grocery stores holding onto closed properties
San Francisco District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood is a familiar face at Dalda's Community Market in the Tenderloin.
"Dalda's is one of the places in the Tenderloin that I'm able to go to. And it's quite amazing because 10 years ago, this didn't exist. It was an entire liquor store that was able to convert," he told CBS News Bay Area.
And he's fighting to have more local markets like these citywide.
"We're facing food deserts across the city where 'zombie stores' are popping, where large chain grocery stores and pharmacy stores are going empty. And those corporations are holding the property, paying thousands of dollars in rent just to block competition from coming in," Mahmood said.
Those "zombie stores" are part of the reason the supervisor introduced the "Affordable Groceries Act," which includes two measures he hopes will get on the November ballot. The first measure would tax large-chain grocery stores that have closed, yet are holding onto the property.
"Make it easier to open more stores in these vacant lots with permit streamlining but also with tax incentives as well. And if they don't do it, we're going to ensure there's going to be a carrot and stick approach, where we charge abandoned pharmacy and grocery tax on those large chain corporations that are holding these properties vacant to block competition," Mahmood said.
The second measure would create an "Affordable Grocery Fund" which would be filled by money from the tax and potentially donations. Mahmood said it not only creates a fund where the city can buy vacant buildings and lease them to grocers, but would also cap markups on groceries.
"We could even potentially use the fund to go after things like Mayor Mamdani is doing in New York, where the city can buy the property, and in turn lease it out to affordable grocery operators that charge the same price to every San Franciscan," the supervisor said.
"There is no big grocery stores around here because I think it's the center of the downtown, and then the people in the neighborhood don't have big units also," Satwinder Multani, the co-owner of Dalda's Community Market, said. "They're trying to help small businesses to have more produce and more of the stuff."
Mahmood said that in his district, four liquor stores have converted into a community market.
He adds that he is fighting for a future where food is not only more accessible, but also more affordable for neighbors.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will be discussing this act in next month's meeting. If it passes out of committee, Mahmood said it is expected to go on the ballot in November.
