A discount grocery store has opened its doors to Mission shoppers.
Blessed by clergy from the Church of Saints Peter and Anthony and boasting two murals from Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center, Grocery Outlet opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday morning.
“That kind of understanding and working with the community in the Latino Cultural District is exactly the type of businesses that we need,” said District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen.
Eric Liittschwager, the store owner, also presented the St. Anthony’s food pantry with a $1,000 donation to mark the occasion.
Philip Lesser, president of the Mission Merchants Association, reminisced about a time when the site was a different grocery store. As a child, Lesser said, he used to help elderly people put their groceries in their cars for a few cents.
“I hope to see little kids running around here starting their first business enterprises,” he said.
The murals span two walls, one facing the parking lot and one facing South Van Ness Avenue. Susan Cervantes, the founder and director of Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center, said their themes reflected the local community and its values – among them, food and family.
“The familia is so important for everyone here,” Cervantes said. “We want to see more families be able to stay here in the Mission.”
The affordability of the items at Grocery Outlet, she and others said, will help counter the skyrocketing costs of living in the city.
As a neighbor of the Grocery Outlet in the Portola, another of Liittschwager’s stores, Ronen, too, lauded the store’s affordability.
“I am there every single week, and I still cannot believe the prices of the groceries that I’m buying,” she said. “As it becomes harder and harder and as we’re all struggling to survive and to live in the most expensive city in the country, having a grocery store that offers products that we can afford means the world to us. It means the world to my family and I know it’s going to mean the world to families in the Mission.”
Liittschwager, a U.S. Navy veteran and former pilot who also worked overseas assisting assisted diplomatic negotiations and international aid and disaster relief efforts, said he would continue to contribute to local causes.
“The more stuff you buy here the more money I can give away,” he said, drawing a laugh from the small crowd gathered for the ceremony.
He also invited anyone with a cause that needs support to reach out.
“If there’s projects you feel are important to you, come to me, approach me, let me know what’s going on,” he said. “It’s a big part of my life.”
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benevolence: donations to charity, but won’t recognize the UFCW union to represent the workers, or even agree to a neutrality agreement.