Stuff, vintage store on Valencia, to close in January after 12 years

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Another business is saying goodbye to the Mission due to unsuccessful lease negotiations with its landlord. 

Stuff, the massive two-story consignment vintage store at 150 Valencia St. near Duboce Avenue, will close on Jan. 31, 2024, co-owner James Spinello confirmed on Thursday. 

“It’s been probably the toughest six months in our life. Just because we love the people of San Francisco, we love our customers, we love our dealers, we love our staff,” Spinello said. “It breaks my heart.” 

Last year, Thomas Murphy, landlord of the building, offered Stuff a new lease of $900,000 in annual rent — $75,000 a month, three times of their rent at the time, Mission Local reported.

In November 2021, Spinello was offered a deal of $7 million to purchase the building, but it fell through after the landlord ignored his communications and subsequently raised the price to $10 million, the owner said in an interview last year. 

The landlord offered to sell the building to them again this September for $6.9 million, while allowing them to keep renting the space for three years at a 40 percent rent increase. 

David Noravian, the broker for the landlord, said it was “a mutually beneficial deal.”

“We had a lease that was ready to be signed,” Noravian told the San Francisco Chronicle. “The tenant said he would send comments from his attorney, and he never did. This deal would have allowed Stuff to stay in the building and purchase it at a fixed price, but we never heard back.”

Spinello said they did respond. But as San Francisco’s real estate market struggles amid lower demands and high interest rates, a year later, this is no longer a feasible deal for Stuff. 

“Have you looked around?” Spinello said. “It’s all one-sided. We are helping him out in a troubling time, but we only have three years to turn things around.”  

Since 2011, the store has been selling mid-century furniture, antiques and other collectables in its 17,000-square-foot space on Valencia Street, while hosting 60 small businesses to sell their merchandise. The dealers are assigned a designated space in the store, and can price their own goods.  

Workers and dealers at Stuff had been notified of the closure a year ago, and have had time to make arrangements after its closure, the co-owner said. A GoFundMe link is on Stuff’s social media page, where the workers said the owners will match the donations from the public up to $25,000 to compensate the staff members.   

Customers are disappointed to see this neighborhood staple go, and for good reason, according to the comments of Stuff’s farewell post. Some called Stuff an “integral part” of their home decor, while others said the place “keeps old SF alive” and is “a true nostalgia portal.” 

Anyone who loves old stuff finds Stuff the perfect place to get lost in. When Stuff first reopened after Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020, Spinello said, enough space for social distancing at Stuff made it an ideal place for people to find peace and a sense of happiness that was desperately needed at the time.  

Dealers at Stuff are still bringing in new merchandise to sell, and holding sales during the last months of the store, the co-owner said. 

“I didn’t want to be one of those stores that closes down with only three days’ notice,” Spinello said. “At least we can properly say goodbye.”