The former longtime home of Central Drug Store, a 117-year-old independent pharmacy in the Excelsior located at 4494 Mission St. at Santa Rosa Avenue that permanently closed last July, has been sold.
The new owners, Markopulos Fotiu and Silvi Palloj, have been running a plumbing business called Marco Polo Plumbing for the past 15 years out of the city of San Bruno, providing services to the greater San Francisco Bay Area.
Fotiu and Palloj made the purchase in June 2026, according to city records. A July 1 building permit, which has already been approved, shows that Fotiu and Palloj recently changed the address for the storefront from 4494 Mission St. to 10 Santa Rosa Ave.
“Owner has indicated new office space will be constructed (Marco Polo Plumbing),” the permit reads.
Fotiu and Palloj took over the building from the Tonelli family, which had owned the property. The building had housed the Central Drug Store since 1908, and was added to the city’s list of legacy businesses in 2021. The Tonellis bought the pharmacy from the Divencenzi family in 1965. Jerry Tonelli made the decision to close the family business last summer.
Since then, Central Drug Store’s iconic red neon sign has been removed from its black marble storefront. What remains is a cement block in the storefront’s bottom right corner, painted with red letters reading “CENTRAL DRUG STORE EST. 1908,” set among the navy blue tiles.
The city’s Office of Small Business confirmed that there is “no rule that the 4494 Mission St. would need to remain a pharmacy,” according Michelle Lynch Reynolds, the office’s program and communications manager. It is, however, still registered as a “retail sales” space at both addresses.
When asked about the permit to construct new office space, Fotiu, who goes by Marco, said he can’t share any plans about the building just yet, and suggested checking back in a few months.
“We don’t know yet,” Fotiu said. “We haven’t made a decision what it is gonna be.”
With so much that’s still up in the air, one thing’s for certain: This marks a homecoming. “We know the area,” Fotiu said. “Grew up in the area.”
Office uses are incompatible with retail corridors. I wish the City did a better job of policing this. In the Mission, there are a few architecture offices (and similar) in the middle of retail. That’s bad for retail – no foot traffic from one store to another. And I believe the City code prohibits such uses. But no one acts. I guess it’s better than an empty space, but if it were enforced, rents might come down – landlords would have to rent to the highest *retail* bidder, not just whoever came around.