Signs of revival in Hayes Valley
District hit hard in pandemic on the rebound
“This location felt really right, where tech and modern luxury met. We’re determined to support this neighborhood. We really want to be a presence that helps. We completely believe in the neighborhood.” Mona Akhavi, CEO of Vrai, a diamond store that opened this month on Hayes Street
Hayes Valley had more than a dozen retail and restaurant closures during the pandemic, as shutdown orders, rampant shoplifting, window break-ins and armed robberies devastated what was one of San Francisco’s premier shopping and nightlife districts.
Twenty months later, the neighborhood is on the rebound, as new tenants fill empty storefronts and tourists and locals once again visit bars and restaurants. On Tuesday evening last week, a street musician played saxophone on Hayes Street as young crowds dined outdoors, hung out on Patricia’s Green and shopped after dark despite the chilly weather.
Diamond store Vrai opened on Nov. 19, filling a space at 450 Hayes St. that was formerly an Urban Remedy. On the same block, organic cotton clothing store Pact recently opened.
“This location felt really right, where tech and modern luxury met,” said Mona Akhavi, CEO of Vrai. “We’re determined to support this neighborhood. We really want to be a presence that helps. We completely believe in the neighborhood.”
Residents credit public health improvements, car-free Hayes Street on weekends, the return of art performances in Civic Center, and a general trend of residential neighborhoods bouncing back faster than downtown. It’s a bright spot in the heart of the city that suggests some resiliency despite the devastation of the past two years and continued store closures around the region.
“We lost a tremendous amount of businesses, but it’s looking like a really good recovery,” said Jen Laska, president of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association. “I think vaccinations have helped tremendously. Having the performing arts back has been a big bump. The restaurants are all booked up on concert nights.”
Laska said the new housing developments in the neighborhood have helped it weather the pandemic better than office-centric downtown, and more projects are planned nearby around Van Ness
Avenue. She isn’t concerned about nearby Mid-Market employers like Twitter embracing remote work, because the neighborhood primarily serves residents and leisure visitors.
Afterwork Bar opened over the summer in the former location of Dobbs Ferry, which shuttered during the pandemic after nine years in the neighborhood. Dumpling Home, which opened in September 2020, is jam-packed with patrons craving hand-crafted soup dumplings. On the edge of the neighborhood, new restaurant Le Fantastique is offering French wine and sushi.
There are still lingering vacancies, like a prominent
“We lost a tremendous amount of businesses, but it’s looking like a really good recovery . ... Having the performing arts back has been a big bump.” Jen Laska, president of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association
space next to Patricia’s Green previously occupied by breakfast restaurant Stacks for 13 years. Walgreens closed its 300 Gough St. store last Monday as part of a five-store closure that it attributed to widespread shoplifting.
Public safety in Hayes Valley has improved, with a larger police presence and fewer burglary complaints, Laska said. Burglaries in the San Francisco Police Department Northern District, which includes Hayes Valley, have dropped 13.6% year to date to 1,156 incidents compared with the same period in 2020, but are still up more than 48% compared with 2019, according to police data. Citywide, burglaries are down 2.3% to 6,289 incidents year to date compared with 2020, but more than 45% above 2019’s 4,323 incidents.
The Union Square ransacking this past Friday underscored how retail crime is a persistent challenge.
B8ta, a consumer electronics store that closed in Hayes Valley after a laptop robbery at gunpoint in February, reopened in September.
Vibhu Norby, CEO of B8ta, said foot traffic is still down about 40% and sales are down 30% compared with pre-pandemic levels, but it’s a vast improvement from the worst times of the pandemic, when traffic was down 95%.
“We want to make it work. We love being there. It’s our home store,” he said. “This is such a one-of-a-kind city when it’s working.”
A rise in international tourists and the recent return of City Hall workers is also ex
pected to help the neighborhood. The annual Hayes Valley Holiday Stroll block party is scheduled for Dec. 3, with merchants open late, a drag queen show and events for kids. “I feel really optimistic,” Laska said.
Vrai’s new diamond store, which was designed with Cass Calder Smith Architecture + Interiors, is meant to be an “art gallery” that will take appointments, host events and online video streams. Vrai’s online business grew five times larger during the pandemic and customers kept asking the company about more retail locations, said Akhavi.
The company sells synthetic diamonds grown in a lab rather than mined, which the company says is more sustainable and ethical. The company’s parent, Diamond Foundry, has its headquarters in San Francisco and around 100 employees in the Bay Area.
“San Francisco is such a meaningful place for us,” Akhavi said. “It was sort of a homecoming.”
The widespread labor shortage has been challenging, and Vrai has been able to hire only three of the six retail workers it needs for the Hayes Valley location.
Akhavi said the increased foot traffic in Hayes Valley has made the neighborhood safer, and the store will also have cameras and vaults and has safety protocols.
“Every night of the week last week, there were people on the street. I think our community is our security in a way,” she said.
Kazuko Morgan, a Cushman & Wakefield retail broker, said neighborhoods like Hayes Valley, the Marina and the Fillmore are all seeing positive recoveries and more new leases. She’s talked to visitors who hear about rampant crime and negativity about San Francisco, but the reality is better than that, she said.
“I think we’re really getting singled out,” Morgan said. “There’s such horror stories out there that people come here and are pleasantly surprised.”