Uptown Almanac

Valencia Whole Foods, soon with better and wine (maybe) [Photo by Jill]

We've long felt the city needed to ease up the restrictions in the 1996 Mission District liquor license moratorium--making it easier for grocery stores and markets to remain viable in the neighborhood--and legislation introduced by Supervisors Scott Wiener and David Campos is going to do just that.  The Chronicle has the scoop:

Wiener and Campos try to address a number of problems in their measure, which they planned to introduce at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting.

Neighborhood stores under 5,000 square feet would be allowed to sell beer and wine, as long as it doesn't take up more than 15 percent of the floor space. It would also allow businesses to close for up to 120 days for repairs and upgrades without surrendering their liquor licenses. The current 30-day limit discourages business owners from making improvements to their establishments, the supervisors said.

It also will require the Planning Commission's approval for a full-service restaurant to move into a former retail space. The new rule, which is used in North Beach and other commercial areas of the city, recognizes the need for businesses that serve the community, as well as visitors.

The 1996 law was created in part to combat the proliferation of corner stores that were blamed for public drunkenness and neighborhood violence.  However, the unanticipated drawback of the law is that nearly two decades later, neighborhood residents cannot buy a six pack at their corner grocer despite "tourists and well-heeled visitors [being able to get] a drink at any of the pricey restaurants in the area."  The new legislation aims to change that.

We've already heard that Valencia Whole Foods would stay open later if allowed to see booze, and the forthcoming Local Mission Market has previously declared the vitality of alcohol sales to their market's success, it is hard to imagine much controversy around the proposed changes.  But with the changes to the restaurant openings in retail spaces process (sacred cow!), who really knows.

[SF Chronicle, via Ellen Huet]

Previously on Uptown Almanac

• Is it Time to Ban New Restaurants From Opening on Valencia?
• Why We Have $15 Burgers: The Mission's Liquor License Ban

I'm not totally sure how the artist's statement behind this decapitated baby head whirligig would read, but I imagine its purpose is to make small children cry and make big children (me) laugh.  Regardless, it's the most refreshing piece of street art this blogger has seen in Clarion Alley in quite some time.

Here's a moving picture Instagram of it in action:

Whenever I read about local coffeeshop news in TechCrunch, I generally expect the news to not be good.  But in Philz' case, it might not actually be so bad.

According to TechCrunch, Philz raised over 3.75 million cups of Tesora worth of money to expand the 13-shop operation outside the Bay Area:

Today, Philz Coffee is adding some growth capital of its own. Although the company isn’t ready to disclose the exact amount, [Phil] Jaber says that the company has raised an eight-figure round that’s on the lower end of the spectrum. From what we can gather from sources, it appears to be in the $15 to $25 million range. The lead investor in the round is Summit Partners, and as a result of the firm’s investment, Summit Managing Director Greg Goldfarb will be taking a seat on the startup’s board of directors.

It's been a helluva story for Phil and his emerging startup.  Founded 25 years ago as a modest corner store at 24th and Folsom, he spent decades perfecting his secret coffee blends. Then in 2003, after decades of limited growth in the corner store market, Phil pivoted the company launched Philz Coffee in the same location.  Philz soon brought on rockstar Silicon Valley CEO "his son", opened over a dozen more stores, and cemented partnerships with Virgin America and Facebook, giving the small neighborhood coffee house the totally reasonable $40-70 million dollar valuation they have today.

Of course, one of the best features of Philz was never the coffee itself, but rather his shop felt like the kind of welcoming, worn-in den that only an old artist would open.  How they'll be able to replicate that freewheeling culture which they've become know for across hundreds of stores remains to be seen.

[Photo by Ed Schipul]

Because everyone wants to have their bangs trimmed in a motor vehicle, San Francisco is filling up fast with truck-based businesses that cater to more than our stomachs.  That's right, foodless food trucks that instead sell flowers and haircuts are all the rage, according to a glowing profile of she-trucks in San Francisco Magazine:

Sarah LaShelle, owner of the Mission salon Pretty Parlor, and her partner Misty Briglia started taking their new beauty truck, which they dubbed Pretty Parlor a GoGo, to big tech companies such as Facebook and Google last fall, where they offer services to employees. “We’d been talking about how cool it would be to own a mobile salon and decided to give it a shot before somebody else did,” LaShelle said. “Once we made up our minds, we bought a truck on Craigslist the next day.” She and Briglia celebrated with tequila shots and coordinating tattoos. [...]

“It’s definitely a labor of love,” LaShelle said of the undertaking. “The generator weighs a ton, and we have to take it and out to charge it after every trip.” Even finding a space to park the truck in the city has proved a challenge. Yet the duo has pressed on, traveling to music festivals and teaming up with wineries and neighborhood businesses for events where they offer makeup, spray tanning, waxing, and occasionally nail art and hair braiding. “We get a lot of attention as cute girls driving a big truck,” LaShelle said.

Is rolling retail here to stay or just the next passing fad we'll all be over in 18 months?  Either way, I'm pumped for the impending roll-out of the F.S.C. Barber Lifestyle Truck For Men.

[SF Magazine]