Tucked within a residential home, Surfside Liquors at 950 Innes Ave. is easy to miss. Yet Hunters Point residents are proud of the only grocery store in the area. Robert “Bob” Pinkard’s regulars generally hang next to the barbecue smoker nearby, but out of respect for the owner, no one loiters in front of his store.
Surfside has been there since 1974 and in 2006 the Chrissy Field Center named Pinkard a community hero for selling fresh produce in an area labeled a food desert. “The next closest store is two miles away,” said Pinkard with a deep southern twang. That’s still the case, but Surfside no longer sells fresh produce. Pinkard would if he could — but he’s caught in a Catch-22.
For years, customers bought his fresh produce and ingredients with food stamps. Therein lies Pinkard’s problem: The shelves, once stocked with flour, sugar and canned goods, are now stocked with a random assortment of water, room-temperature beer and cleaning supplies. The refrigerators that kept the ice cream cold now store alcohol.
The problem started with Pinkard’s knee. Two years ago, it had to be replaced, and he closed his store for nine months to recover. When he reopened in late 2023, the United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service notified him that he could no longer sell food products to customers using food stamps.
“They told me I came back one month too late,” said Pinkard. The principal reason: He failed to re-qualify as an authorized retailer for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program program, known as SNAP. The sticking point: He was unable to provide proof of sale of staple food products over the year his store was closed.
USDA records show Surfside Liquors lost its SNAP authorization on Aug. 29, 2023. It doesn’t appear in the SNAP final agency decision database that publicly displays administrative sanctions against SNAP retailers. USDA Food and Nutrition Service has not responded to an inquiry made on June 13 about why Surfside Liquors doesn’t appear on the SNAP final agency decision list.
To requalify as a SNAP retailer, Pinkard’s store must meet specific requirements set by the USDA. Most importantly, the food inventory requirement that shows staple foods such as dairy products, meat, poultry, fish, and fruits and vegetables must comprise more than 50 percent of its total gross retail sales.
When Pinkard reopened his store in September 2023, he again offered produce and staple items. But the majority of his customers, whom he has served for more than 50 years, live in the housing projects near his store, where 30 percent of the population’s yearly household income is less than $20,000. They buy groceries with SNAP food stamps. He could not accept food stamps, so out went the staples and the fresh produce.
It’s a vicious circle: Pinkard can’t accept food stamps, so he can’t stock fresh foods and staple items. And because he can’t stock fresh foods and staple items, he can’t qualify to accept food stamps.
“You gotta throw it away. You gotta throw the milk away, you gotta throw the butter away, the bread away,” Pinkard said. He pulled his phone out and showed photos of shelves full of staple food products before 2023.
The loss of being an authorized SNAP retailer has cost him dearly. He has not made a profit since returning from his surgery about two years ago.
“I’m not even paying myself, because there’s not enough coming in,” said Pinkard. “I’ve been blessed where I can handle it, but this place has cost me money for the last two years.”
Pinkard estimates he lost around $2,000 alone from perishable food he had to throw away when he reopened.
“I don’t have any money to throw away, I’m trying to survive,” he said.
After Mission Local made a call to the Office of Economic and Workforce Development to inquire about Surfside Liquors’ situation, representatives there said they contacted the city’s Office of Small Business.
The Office of Small Business told Mission Local it doesn’t encounter an issue like this often. Its representatives told the city’s workforce development office that they will connect Pinkard with an advisor to explore possible solutions. Pinkard said that, as of June 11, he has not heard anything from the Office of Small Business.
“These kids I’ve known, I know their parents. And they definitely need, they need those food stamps out here,” Pinkard said as soul music played in the background.
Appreciate the sentiment of the article. Small correction: there are three super markets within less than 2 miles of Surfside. Luckys is 1.2 miles from there. Super Save is 1.3 miles from there. Mi Rancho is 1.6 miles. All on 3rd street. Article says that the closest is 2 miles away.
And so regrettable that after so many years in operation, and after being named a “Community Hero,” he could not arrange with a single person to keep things going for him while he recovered from knee surgery for such an extended time.
I really hope this gets corrected by the government so he can sell produce without being penalized which sounds ridiculous. He has a big heart and wants to help people
Solution: One of the local tech billionaires can use their lunch money to subsidize fresh produce etc. for Bob for however long he needs to requalify for SNAP. That way, he can charge little or nothing (so locals can afford it) and not lose money if he’s overstocked.
No one talks to their customers anymore, you can’t talk to a human being when you call to ask about various products. We get lost in the labrynth of AI choices
This is disgusting. Crazy to hear. Thanks for following this story. We need a bit more media attention on these issues. Has anyone talked to Shamann about this?
I personally know Mr. Bob in fact my entire family The Porter’s love and respect Bob. He took care of my grandmother Lorean Porter grocery needs during the decades she lived in West point. This grocery store is much needed for the community and we will share and support Bob as much as we can.
It would be nice if somewhere in the bowels of the USDA would be an actual human who could respond to this problem. But instead, all the “decisions” have likely been outsourced to AI.
Everyone: when you use AI, you are contributing to the slow death of knowledge and of human cognition. (And the planet would like a few words with you too.)