Businesses in the Inner Sunset are reaching record-high sales volume driven by a boom of restaurant openings, according to local merchants and city sales tax data.
The Inner Sunset corridor has recovered from the pandemic faster than other neighborhoods in the city, the data shows; for most of the year, sales tax-revenue has grown and is higher than its pre-pandemic levels.
Walking around the area, it’s easy to see the evidence of recovery. On a recent sunny weekend, the intersection of Ninth Avenue and Irving Street by Golden Gate Park was crowded: Parents pushed strollers down the block, people lined up for Arizmendi pizza or Tadaima matcha, and high schoolers sold cookies at every corner.
But that’s not the case across the Sunset. Past 19th Avenue, the economy of the the Outer Sunset and Parkside areas have not reached pre-pandemic levels, according to the city data, and experienced slight declines in sales tax revenue over the past two years.
Inner Sunset merchants attribute the boon to an influx of restaurants.
“We definitely had a lot of vacancies that were filled by restaurants,” said Angie Petitt, owner of the gift shop collective Sunset Mercantile Emporium. “Food is always a huge destination. People don’t need to buy stuff [at stores] as much as they go out to eat. Our strength seems to be in the restaurants that are opening up.”
Susannah Wise, the president of Inner Sunset Merchants Association and co-owner of dental office Park Smile, agreed. It’s eateries, she said, that keeps the vacancies low.
Most recently, Mama’s Boy, the Oakland pizza shop that serves New York-style slices, signed the lease on the former pharmacy space on Ninth and Irving. The storefront that was home to LaLe, which closed in November 2025, is now under construction to make way for a new restaurant.
Wise also credited the Inner Sunset’s vibrancy to an increase in events in Golden Gate Park including concerts, free shows and special events like the Lightscape installation.
When people visit the park, they often visit the Inner Sunset, she said.
Neighborhood groups also worked to bring more foot traffic to the corridor. There have been longstanding events like the Inner Sunset Flea Market, which closes two Irving Street blocks every month. But the groups started new ones, like the Inner Sunset art walk and holiday light strolls, hoping to bring foot traffic to less frequented areas away from Ninth and Irving.
“It creates a great energy, getting people out exploring the neighborhood more,” Petitt said.
Past 19th Avenue, however, businesses have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels, the tax data shows.
“Most stores are just maintaining themselves … just paying the bills,” said Bill Barnickel, president of the Outer Sunset Merchant & Professional Association.
On Taraval Street, the L-Taraval project has closed some businesses, said Albert Chow, president of People of Parkside Sunset, a neighborhood and merchant group.
Chow has been an outspoken critic of the project, and said the loss of parking spots has deterred drivers from frequenting Taraval businesses.
“People are lazy,” Chow said. “You want to get out of your car and walk over. The store or restaurant you want to go to is right there.”
The Inner Sunset also has its parking woes and Petitt, for her part, cautioned that the numbers don’t “necessarily mean that all the businesses are all doing great.” But the area’s density brings more foot traffic and higher turnover when there’s a vacant storefront, merchants said.
“Outer Sunset is just so big,” said Poppy Gilman, board member of Sunset Merchants Association, who owns the printing center Offix Edge on Noriega Street. “Inner Sunset feels like a little shopping district. You can walk through that area very easily. Whereas here, you have to be really wearing your hiking shoes.”
Step 1: Block the construction of large apartment buildings in the Outer Sunset for generations.
Step 2: Grouse that there aren’t enough people to keep restaurants and businesses afloat on the outer avenues.
Albert chow is the lazy in fact he didn’t pay his taxes.
He also wants cars on the greathighway.
So of course more parking is the key to successful business in the sunset, in his out of touch eyes.
Not fostering community with the a park to bring people out together to enjoy the sunset.
This guy is a clown of the sunset. His store magically burned down. We should stop giving him a voice.
There’s a certain irony to quoting Albert Chow in an article about tax revenues, given that he famously didn’t pay taxes.
““People are lazy,” Chow said.” Sorry to tell you this but people are only “lazy” when you offer a mediocre shopping or eating experience.
Offer a top product, or a great dining experience and people will park (or even use public transportation) and then walk a long long way. There are examples of this all over San Francisco – including some in the Sunset.
had lunch at Lou’s on Taraval Sunday. It was great! Business was brisk. Rode my bike from the beach. Walked up the block and had a matcha after.
The city really hurt small business with the drawn-out construction project on the L-Taraval but now that its complete, they should incentivize new business to open up – people will come!
I live on Taraval and have been riding the L since 2001. The number of times I’ve witnessed off-boarding muni riders (including seniors and students) have close calls with zooming cars have been too many to count. I feel a huge sense of relief now that the safety improvements to the L line are completed, including the wheelchair-accessible platforms that I have used to board safely with my 4-month-old daughter in her stroller. This is critical infrastructure that will benefit our community for decades to come! Additionally, I find that a short walk and a muni ride is one of the best ways to enjoy dining out in our neighborhood. As my friend Rayna says, “飯後百步走，活到九十九!” (Walk a hundred steps after every meal and you’ll live to 99).
Stay on the sidewalk until the train is pulling up, make sure you look both ways before you step off the curb.
You cannot treat the area west of 19th Ave as one place. Irving st. Is very vibrant. And Stonestown, our only mall is also west of 19th.
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If nature really had her way she would turn the outer sunset back into dunes, and the whipping wind, the sand grains in the eyes, the lack of trees all acompany the biosphere. It is incontinent.
Yeah, it really boils down to accessibility.
Inner Sunset is like a cross that is two blocks tall from the park, three to five blocks to the left, and one block to the right.
Crammed to capacity with an oasis of various food stores, that gathers locals and tourists alike meaning it doubles up business.
Though I’m not sure why the author didn’t mention much about Irving past 19th Avenue, since I would assume a similar albeit lesser effect since it’s close to the park, but no major attractions near it, with various popular night markets and events.
Also the Northwest edge of the Outer Sunset.
I am curious on how those sectors specifically are doing.
The others are generally service corridors that support grocery and casual dining, and it’s quite unsurprising that they reflect the problems and trend of the cost of living in current market conditions.
I know this isn’t the topic of the article but would be amazing if this publication or any other could try and get some hard data behind
“On Taraval Street, the L-Taraval project has closed some businesses, said Albert Chow, president of People of Parkside Sunset, a neighborhood and merchant group. Chow has been an outspoken critic of the project and said the loss of parking spots has deterred drivers from frequenting Taraval businesses. ”
I know Mr Chow believes this but is there data to support it? What % of customers come by car and are not if parking is too hard. He owns a hardware store so maybe impacted more than the mean but we have cut parking all over the city and should be able to see impacts.
I just hear this repeated forever as a reason we can’t have nice things by the vaunted demigods that are small business owners and I’m skeptical but they get this line repeated in every publication as if their beliefs are fact and frankly I think they are just lying or misinformed about their customers habits. Open to being proved wrong.
Surely this is nothing new. A lot of city dwellers view the Inner Sunset as culturally closer to areas like Cole Valley and the Haight. Whereas the Sunset further out is something of an unknown wilderness to those of us who live east of Masonic. Most of us never go west of 9th Street and UCSF.
You could say the same for Inner Richmond versus Richmond proper.
Poppy Gilman’s astute comment points to the need for a shuttle connecting the major commercial islands (aka ‘highstreets’) like Irving in the 20th Avenues and the 40s, Judah in the 40s, Noriega in the 20s and 40s, Taraval in the 20s and 40s.
Wait, Sunset Dunes advocates say outer sunset businesses’ profits are way up with the closure of the Great Highway.
Comparing these two corridors is apples and oranges. Not to mention the insanely inefficient upgraded project that made Taraval impassable for years.
Clement St. is flat and good for.a stroll. Taraval? That’s a garish transportation facility, they’re going nowhere. Muni somehow managed to make the new trains even noisier than the old Bredas. I had a coffee out there a couple months ago, after the third train passing I had to leave. What’s with that incessant bell ringing?