Fighting Hip, but Formula Retail in the Mission District

The eclectic Mission District – fashionable with San Francisco State University students - is a hipster paradise. Yet some residents and businesspeople hip to American Apparel’s bid to add a store to the neighborhood are voicing opposition.

“Nothing is more important to me than stopping American Apparel from coming into the Mission,” said Stephen Elliott, a writer and neighborhood resident, who formed Stop American Apparel in response to the clothier’s desire to open a location in a vacant narrow storefront at 988 Valencia St.

Since its creation in mid-January, the group has launched a blog, distributed posters and postcards – and, with the assistance of local Pirate Cat Radio – it has assembled a grassroots coalition of individuals and business owners.

The group aims to protect the colorful character of the Mission and save independently owned concerns from closure or relocation due to inflated rents.



“The people that suffer the most are local business owners, I think, because there is no rent control for businesses in California,” said Elliott.

David Marks opened Room 4 down the block last year to peddle vintage clothing and expressed concern about how American Apparel’s presence may alter the economic climate of Valencia Street.

“In the short term it would bring more people down here, but I think in the long term it would really hurt the street because rents are going to go up,” Marks said. “I don’t want them here because I don’t want to go out of business.”

Elliott and Stop American Apparel believe this situation will set a precedent for future development in the neighborhood.

“For Valencia, this is the first time that this has come up since Proposition G passed in 2006, so it’s really a test case,” said Elliott. “It’s not about American Apparel; it’s strictly about formula retail.”

San Franciscans passed Proposition G in 2006, requiring that formula retail companies – those operating 11 or more stores in the U.S. that maintain standardized features - attain a conditional-use permit from the city before starting a business in a designated neighborhood commercial district like Valencia Street. American Apparel’s permit application comes in front of the San Francisco Planning Commission at City Hall on Feb. 5.

California-based American Apparel manages a sweatshop-free factory in Los Angeles, provides employees with healthcare benefits and competitive wages, speaks out politically and showcases controversial advertising. The company has 260 locations in 19 countries and already operates stores in San Francisco’s Cow Hollow, Haight-Ashbury, and Union Square, according to its Web site.



“I believe in San Francisco that it’s not really possible for chain stores to beat out local businesses … the demand for diversity is so great,” said Mark Pauley, a software engineer and occasional American Apparel customer who lives within shouting distance of the proposed store location. “I think that being extremely protectionist and getting a bunch of people out to say that this would be horrible for our neighborhood is a little bit extreme.”

If Elliott has anything to say about it, Stop American Apparel will live up to its name and mission.

“I think there are probably some people that want American Apparel, but they are definitely the minority,” said Elliott.

Nevertheless, plans to open the store are progressing.

“The lease is signed and the reason it has been such a deliberate, methodical process is that we’re trying to get it right,” said American Apparel strategist Ryan Holiday in an e-mail interview. “We’ve been getting feedback from officials, making sure that everything is in compliance, getting a genuine sense of the neighborhood so the store can be a part of it.”

The company informed the community of its intent to enter the neighborhood lightly via a letter posted to the Mission Mission blog on Jan. 26. “Because at the end of the day, if the community doesn’t want us there, we have no intention of forcing our way in,” the letter said.

“A lot of people have asked to speak on behalf of American Apparel, and it looks like a big part of the community is going to recommend that we continue with the plans,” Holiday said.

Stop American Apparel is busying itself by bolstering community support, accumulating petition signatures and hosting events. Twenty individuals assembled in front of 988 Valencia St. to demonstrate on Jan. 31. A rally and session for composing letters to city supervisors and the Planning Commission – on typewriters, no less - will be held at Amnesia Bar on Feb. 2.


This story - authored by Christian Goepel - appeared in the Feb. 5, 2009, edition of the Golden Gate [X]Press.

Update: The San Francisco Planning Commission denied American Apparel's request for a conditional-use permit on Feb. 5.