Cinderella Bakery will finally debut in the Mission District: Opening set for month’s end 

After years of waiting, Cinderella Bakery is slated to open its 24th Street location on Friday, Aug. 28. 

Cinderella has been serving Russian goods — piroshkies, kvass, Siberian pies, borscht and more — to San Franciscans for more than 70 years at 436 Balboa St. in the Inner Richmond. It opened in 1953, and in 2017, the bakery was recognized as a legacy business. 

Its Mission location will be located at 2937 24th. St., on the corner of Alabama Street. The building was the home of La Victoria bakery for 67 years, but was purchased by Cinderella’s bakery co-owner, Mike Fishman, a month after La Victoria shut down in October 2018 following years of declining business and a family dispute.

Fishman bought the corner shop, hoping to open up Cinderella’s second location in the city. 

“The building is very attractive, and there aren’t very many mixed-use buildings” on the market, Mike Fishman told Mission Local in October 2018. The building also houses three apartments and two other businesses, Texis Jewelry and Gemini Barber, which remain open.

Fishman said in 2018 that he did not plan to raise the rents on the businesses.

Cinderella’s route to opening was long, drawn out by both the pandemic and neighborhood activists. 

The bakery faced early opposition from neighborhood groups, who called for a boycott of the business and demanded the space be made available for La Victoria to return — even though the business had closed, after years of decline and struggle. Jaime Maldonado, who took over the family business and was the master tenant of the building, in October 2018 evicted its own subtenants, arguing it was a necessary move to settle a lawsuit with his stepmother, Susan Maldonado. Laura Hernandez, an employee of 12 years at the bakery, later opened La Victoria SF at 3249 24th St., at Capp Street, in 2019. It is still there.  

One of the loudest voices in 2018 against Cinderella was Calle 24’s then-president, Erick Arguello.

In an interview in May 2025, however, Arguello said he didn’t want to look back, and instead welcomed Cinderella to the corridor.

“I just want to look forward. Everything is fine. … The important thing is that they’ve integrated into the community,” said Arguello at the time. 

Fishman told Mission Local in April 2025 that Cinderella’s opening had also been delayed for years by the pandemic and by the fact that, at the time, banks would not lend him money.

Cinderella’s opening in the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District required the business to adhere to several conditions, such as sourcing ingredients locally and featuring local artwork, to “preserve the prevailing neighborhood character,” according to the city planning code. 

Cinderella commissioned a mural from Precita Eyes that was completed in November last year.

Fishman, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union whose Jewish family was, at one point, banished to Siberia, said in April last year that he felt excited to open up in a neighborhood both vibrant and with a rich immigrant history.

“I’m very excited about reviving and honoring the old space that held so many special memories,” said Fishman. “We look forward to being a positive addition to the neighborhood.”