Several convenience stores in San Francisco’s notorious Tenderloin district have been providing cover for illegal activity, city leaders announced Thursday.
The issue surrounds secret casinos, drug dens, and stolen merchandise being resold, the New York Post reported Monday.
Officials have been working to crack down on the nine sites that fronted as convenience stores, City Attorney David Chiu’s office announced on Thursday.
His office said the discovery of the sites comes as “the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is looking to expand the nighttime safety ordinance that prohibits certain retail stores in high-traffic, drug market areas from operating late at night. The ordinance has been a key enforcement tool for the City Attorney’s Office in identifying and shutting down businesses that house substantial illegal activity.”
Chiu said the stores were “magnets for drug activity” and some were selling illegal drugs.
“Most businesses contribute positively to our neighborhoods, but a handful of late-night retail establishments, like the ones we have shut down, attract significant criminal activity. The nighttime safety ordinance has been helpful in putting these stores on our radar and giving us additional tools to shut down problematic businesses,” he added.
One store was the SF Discount Market where police executed a search warrant and seized items such as nine gambling slot machines, a high-capacity magazine for a Glock handgun, 83 grams of cannabis, and over $10,000 cash, the city attorney’s office continued:
Officers also seized contraband and stolen property displayed for sale, including cartons of cigarettes from other states, 17 iPhones, and merchandise with original price stickers from stores like Walgreens and Sephora. SF Discount Market sold drug paraphernalia, including straight glass pipes commonly used to smoke methamphetamine and crack cocaine, and sheets of aluminum foil commonly used to smoke fentanyl. In October 2024, the City Attorney filed a lawsuit against the store for violating local and state laws, and the Court ordered the store to close while the lawsuit is ongoing.
Residents of San Francisco have long complained about the crime and other issues throughout the city. There are reports of people having to dodge feces on city streets, rampant illegal drug use, violence, and homelessness. Those problems have struck fear in neighbors and businesses have struggled to hire employees.
In October, Breitbart News reported, “San Francisco’s streets grew dirtier in the last year, with more feces and graffiti reported by the city, despite the efforts of new reformist Mayor Daniel Lurie, who is resisting President Donald Trump’s National Guard.”