(Or “Krave,” as you Yanks call it.)
And Big Cheez-Its, that’s also available at a steep discount on the corner of 7th and Market these days.
But, cheez it, the cops! See them?
Do they ever do anything down here?
Click to expand
Everybody wins when big corporations, like, I don’t know, Wal-Mart, take big tax deductions for donating food and when donees sell it to happy customers. Hurray!
Now, how does the pink bag mafia keep cold food, like yogurt, cold, you know, after they pick it up for free?
Answer: They don’t.
Oh well.
Opening up for the brunch-time rush:
Click to expand
And look, we’ll have Yet Another CVS on Market Street. (CVS is the Rite-Aid of the 2010′s, non?)
This has been your Seventh and Market Black Market Update.
San Francisco will soon get two Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Markets. Hurray!
Realize that minimum wage in San Francisco is $9.92, so starting salaries will be at $10 per hour but there’ll be medical benefits for those working 20 or more hours per week.
The Richmond District store will open on June 22, 2011 (deets here at the Richmond District Blog) and the Bayview outlet will come along a little later on August 24 – (I’m sure we’ll hear from Supervisor Malia Cohen when the time comes…)
In the meantime, consider yourselves pwned, NIMBYs of the Richmond District. PWNED, you hear me?
Fresh & Easy Announces San Francisco Opening Dates - Hiring Underway at Both Locations
SAN FRANCISCO May 23, 2011 — Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market today announced the opening dates for its first two stores in San Francisco. These store openings will create more than 50 good jobs and the company is currently accepting applications for positions on its website at www.freshandeasy.com/joinus.
Fresh & Easy will open two stores in San Francisco this summer:
— 32nd Ave. & Clement St. June 22 – (3132 Clement)
— 3rd St. & Carroll Ave. August 24
“I look forward to the Fresh & Easy store opening and welcoming a new business that is partnering with the community and giving back to schools and community organizations in the Richmond District,” said San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar.
“We could not be more thrilled with the strong performance of our first 11 stores in Northern California and we’re excited to get our doors open in San Francisco,” said Tim Mason, Fresh & Easy CEO. “Judging by the fantastic reception we’ve seen from customers throughout the Bay Area, we are certain these stores will also be a hit.”
Entry-level positions start at $10 an hour in California and offer quarterly bonuses of up to 10% as well as a 401(k) with company match. The company believes everyone deserves access to affordable and comprehensive healthcare and provides all employees the opportunity to work at least 20 hours per week, which entitles everyone to vision, prescription drug, dental and medical coverage with Fresh & Easy paying at least 75%.
For each new store opening, Fresh & Easy invites neighbors to nominate a local, non-profit organization to receive a $1,000 donation. Based off the nominations from the neighborhood, store employees will select the winning charity. Charity nominations are currently being accepted for 32nd & Clement at www.freshandeasy.com/goodneighbor, nominations for 3rd & Carroll will be accepted in July.
To learn more about Fresh & Easy, neighbors and customers are invited to join Friends of Fresh & Easy at www.freshandeasy.com/friends. By joining, customers will have access to exclusive offers, the latest news on their favorite products and a free canvas bag.
About Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market
Fresh & Easy operates 175 stores in California, Arizona and Nevada. In addition to fresh prepared meals, meats and produce, Fresh & Easy offers everyone’s favorite national brand products and household items, all at unbelievably low prices. The grocer’s popular fresh&easy brand products have no artificial colors or flavors, no added trans fats, no high-fructose corn syrup, and only use preservatives when absolutely necessary.
On average, Fresh & Easy stores use 30% less energy than a typical supermarket, which helps customers save money – and also helps the environment. Fresh & Easy uses LED lighting in external signs and freezer cases, offers customer recycling in every store and uses advanced refrigeration and freezer units to cut back on energy usage. The company also recycles or reuses all of its display packaging, sending the majority back through its distribution center.
For more information about Fresh & Easy, visit www.freshandeasy.com. Also follow the company on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/fresh_and_easy and become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/freshandeasy.
Had no idea that was have a CVS now in the FiDi. But these days you can’t miss it what with all the protest signs that say “CVS.”
Went in and scored some prenatal vitamins, the kind the don’t sell at the Costco, the special magic ones that are specifically recommended, on a unexpected buy-one-get-one free basis, so that saved me $20-something or something.
Score.
Shouldn’t CVS have been allowed a real sign so that people passing by every day would notice its there?
Are these the same people you see in front of the Walgreen’s on Sacramento?
Do they have some specific cause? I asked one of them one time and he said everything I needed to know was on a sheet of paper but the other guy, the one on Front had the papers so I should go ask him about it.
Oh well.
CVS today, Target tomorrow, and who knows, maybe someday we’ll finally get something really exotic like a Lexus dealership (nope, not in SF) and a Wendys (they used to be here) or two.
Just like a real town…
I don’t know, CVS Pharmacy. I think you all have been talking to NIMBYs too much when your PR people start bandying about recently-invented terms like “nuisance alcohol.”
Here’s what I mean – let’s review the plans for the former Fog Belt North Albertsons, that brokedown palace out there at 32nd and Clement, the place that will soon be a combo CVS / Fresh & Easy gro sto, per the always-reliable Richmond District Blog:
“CVS will not pursue permission to sell hard liquor at this location. CVS will pursue permission to sell beer and wine only. Per CVS company-wide policy, CVS does not sell malt liquor, singles or other nuisance alcohol.“
“Nuisance alcohol?” Is this your phrase now?
Click to be smooth, baby
Hey, you know what kind of people are maybe more than a nuisance? How about white people who live out in the Avenues but go downtown to drop $400 on wine and dinner and then head home via the Western Addition?
Can wine be a “nuisance alcohol” too, CVS?
P.S. The NIMBY groups you’ve been talking to only represent themselves. What about the 99% of Richmond District people who don’t belong to any NIMBYhood association? What do they think?
Hey, can you see yourself out there in the Middle / Outer Richmond District area working for the coming Fresh & Easy gro sto at 32nd and Clement, you know, where the Albertson’s used to be?
Well, if you do, then look forward to making just $10 per hour - that’s well south of what the In & Out Burger pays and just 8 cents per hour north of our minimum wage.
Oh well.
“Fresh & Easy Now Hiring in Northern California
Hiring Underway for More Than 275 Positions
EL SEGUNDO, Calif.,Nov. 10, 2010 –Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is currently hiring for 12 stores that are set to open early next year in Northern California. These stores are among the first Fresh & Easy plans to open in the Bay Area and Modesto. The company expects to hire more than 275 employees for these stores and is currently accepting applications for positions on its website at www.freshandeasy.com/joinus.
Northern California Fresh & Easy stores currently hiring include:
– Clayton Rd. & Ygnacio Valley Rd. Concord
– Diablo Blvd. & Hwy 680 Danville
– Mission Blvd. & Rousseau St. Hayward
– Oakdale Rd. & Lancey Dr. Modesto
– Imola Ave. & Jefferson St. Napa
– Cabrillo Hwy. & Linda Mar Blvd. Pacifica
– Rosewood Dr. & Santa Rita Rd. Pleasanton
– 32nd Ave. & Clement St. San Francisco
– Bird Ave. & Minnesota Ave. San Jose
– Saratoga Ave. & Payne Ave. San Jose
– Elmira Rd. & Nut Tree Vacaville Rd.
– Ygnacio Valley Rd. & San Carlos Rd. Walnut Creek
“With every store we open we bring more good paying jobs with comprehensive benefits to the neighborhood,” said Fresh & Easy CEO Tim Mason. “We’re thrilled to hire our first employees in Northern California and to bring fresh, wholesome food at affordable prices to new neighborhoods in the area next year.”
Each store will employ 20 to 25 people, with entry-level positions starting at $10 an hour in California. The company also offers quarterly bonuses of up to 10%, a 401(k) with company match, a generous paid time off (PTO) program and life skills training.
Fresh & Easy believes everyone deserves access to affordable and comprehensive healthcare and provides all employees the opportunity to work at least 20 hours per week, which entitles everyone to vision, prescription drug, dental and medical coverage with Fresh & Easy paying at least 75%. Fresh & Easy has created more than 700 jobs this year and currently has more than 4,300 employees in California, Nevada and Arizona.
About Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market
Fresh & Easy operates more than 150 stores in California, Arizona and Nevada. In addition to fresh prepared meals, meats and produce, Fresh & Easy offers everyone’s favorite national brand products and household items, all at unbelievably low prices. The grocer’s popular fresh&easy brand products have no artificial colors or flavors, no added trans fats, no high-fructose corn syrup, and only use preservatives when absolutely necessary.
On average, Fresh & Easy stores use 30% less energy than a typical supermarket, which helps customers save money – and also helps the environment. Fresh & Easy uses LED lighting in external signs and freezer cases, offers customer recycling in every store and uses advanced refrigeration and freezer units to cut back on energy usage. The company also recycles or reuses all of its display packaging, sending the majority back through its distribution center.
For more information about Fresh & Easy, visit www.freshandeasy.com. Also follow the company on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/fresh_and_easy and become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/freshandeasy.
Our California Attorney General Jerry Brown can’t abide you polluting the air with hair care products not legal for sale in California. So he just announced a court judgment against Pro’s Choice Beauty Care, Inc, a New York-based distributor – now they’re blocked from selling “pollution-causing” products in CA.
Product is coming off the shelves right now at your K Marts, your RiteAids, your Targets, etc.
That means no illicit Big Sexy Hair Dense for Big Jerry:
These particular products weren’t meant for sale to Californians, so let’s assume that similar hairsprays and gels and whatnot, you know, all those things that you’ll see on sale tomorrow, have been given the O.K. Feel free to shop away.
All the deets:
Oakland-Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced a court judgment against Pro’s Choice Beauty Care, Inc., a New York-based hair care product distributor, blocking the company from selling “pollution-causing” products that also exacerbate respiratory illnesses.
The judgment also requires the retailers Rite Aid, Long’s Drug Stores, CVS Pharmacy, Walgreen Company, Ralphs Grocery Company, Kmart and Target to remove these products at all California stores.
“Pro’s Choice sold thousands of containers of pollution-causing hair products to consumers who unknowingly exposed themselves and the environment to harmful pollutants,” Brown said. “Today’s agreement will remove products from store shelves that pollute our air and exacerbate respiratory diseases such as asthma.”
Pro’s Choice, the largest distributor of professional hair care and nail products in the country, buys U.S. brand-name products overseas and re-imports the products to sell them below suggested retail value. The products are then redistributed to pharmacies, grocery chains, and wholesale clubs throughout the country.
In late 2006, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and several district attorneys notified Brown’s office that many products supplied by Pro’s Choice contained air contaminants well above the state’s limits on volatile organic compounds (VOCs.) Despite numerous tests and repeated violations and requests for compliance, Pro’s Choice continued to sell these products to retailers.
Brown’s office filed a lawsuit against the company in 2008. The company was charged with violating California’s Health and Safety Code 4200 et seq., which protects air quality and prevents companies from intentionally discharging pollutants into the air.
VOCs significantly contribute to the formation of smog. Under California law, depending on whether the product is a hair spray, mousse, gel or styling product, each must meet California’s stringent standards for VOC content. According to the American Lung Association’s 2009 State of the Air Report, California has five of the top-ten worst smog areas and the highest rate of asthma in the country.
Some of the non-compliant products Pro’s Choice resold to retailers include:
- Big Sexy Hair Dense at a Target in Modesto, CA;
- Redken Fabricate at a RiteAid in Modesto, CA;
- Sebastian Threads Microber Cream at a K-Mart in Lodi, CA;
- Sebastian Shaper Plus at Ralphs in Sacramento, CA;
- John Paul Mitchell Freeze and Shine Super Spray Firm Hold at Longs in Stockton, CA; and,
- Short Sexy Hair Hard Up Gel at Rite Aid in Torrance, CA.
Today’s judgment requires Pro’s Choice to:
- Stop selling or distributing products that violate the limits of VOCs;
- Pull all of the products found in violation;
- Identify and sort products that are non-compliant before distributing them for sale in California;
- Obtain written verification from the manufacturer
Our Senator Leland Yee, Ph.D. is today calling for support for his Clean Needle Bill, SB 1029. It would permit all California pharmacists to sell up to 30 sterile syringes to drug users aged 18 and over. Why? To prevent the spread of HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and other blood-borne diseases that live in used syringes.
All the deets of today’s presser with Mark Cloutier, CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and Barry Zevin, MD, a San Francisco primary care and HIV clinician, below.
Senator Yee, PhD:
Yee Introduces Clean Needle Bill. Legislation would allow pharmacies to sell sterile syringes to prevent spread of HIV & Hepatitis C
Today, State Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) was joined by doctors, pharmacists, and AIDS prevention advocates to introduce legislation that would allow pharmacies throughout California the discretion to sell up to 30 sterile syringes to an adult without a prescription.
California is one of only three states that still prohibit pharmacists from selling a syringe without a prescription. Most states amended their laws in light of evidence that criminalized access to sterile syringes led drug users to share used ones, and that sharing syringes spread HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and other blood-borne diseases that can live in a used syringe.
“This is an effective public health measure which is proven to reduce health care costs to taxpayers,” said Yee. “It’s a moral, as well as fiscal imperative.”
“Access to sterile syringes is a vital component of a comprehensive strategy to combat HIV and hepatitis,” said Yee. “This approach has been evaluated extensively throughout the world and has been found to significantly reduce rates of HIV and hepatitis without contributing to any increase in drug use, drug injection, crime or unsafe discard of syringes.”
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Los Angeles) signed legislation in 2004 to create a five-year pilot to evaluate the safety and efficacy of allowing adults to purchase and possess a limited number of syringes for personal use. Under the pilot program pharmacies in Los Angeles County, the Bay Area and some other parts of the state have been allowed to sell syringes.
Yee’s SB 1029 would remove the sunset and allow all pharmacists throughout the state with the discretion to sell sterile syringes without a prescription.
Sharing of used syringes is the most common cause of new hepatitis C infections in California and the second most common cause of HIV infections. The state Department of Public Health estimates that approximately 3,000 California residents contract hepatitis C through syringe sharing every year and another 750 cases of HIV are caused by syringe sharing.
These diseases are costly and potentially deadly. Hospitalizations for hepatitis B and hepatitis C cost the state $2 billion in 2007, according to a report by the California Research Bureau. The lifetime cost of treating hepatitis C is approximately $100,000, unless a liver transplant is required, and then the cost exceeds $300,000 per surgery. The lifetime cost of treating HIV/AIDS is now estimated to exceed $600,000 per patient.
By comparison, a syringe costs about ten to fifteen cents retail. The bill requires no appropriation of state funds, because it allows adults to buy syringes at their own expense.
Among health policy researchers speaking in favor of SB 1029, Alex Kral, an epidemiologist who has supervised several studies of HIV prevention said, “In light of over 200 studies worldwide that establish improved syringe access means less disease with no downside, to continue a policy of making syringe sales illegal would amount to health policy malpractice.”
The 200 studies Kral referred to were reviewed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2008. WHO concluded that the overwhelming scientific consensus showed improved syringe access reduced rates of HIV and hepatitis without contributing to drug use, crime or unsafe discard of syringes.
“There is not one credible study from anywhere in the world that refutes these findings,” Kral said.
Among the numerous studies cited was one published in the American Journal of Public Health from 2001 that compared US cities that allowed pharmacists to sell syringes to adults without a prescription and those that did not. The study found that the rate of HIV among drug injectors was twice as high in cities that forbid sale without a prescription than those cities that allowed pharmacists greater flexibility to provide syringes.
“This approach has been overwhelmingly supported by the health professions,” said Yee. “I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Legislature, the Governor and the California Department of Public Health to craft the most efficient and cost-effective means of saving lives and public dollars by preventing HIV and hepatitis C.”
SB 1029 will be considered in committee in March.
Bay Area “serial entrepreneur” Stuart Skorman (be sure to read his congratulatory, self-written Wikipedia entry here) has used a tiny piece of his remaining millions to pay PR-types to promote his Big New Idea. That’s right, the founder of Berkeley’s closed-down Elephant Pharmacy wants to restrict tobacco sales in California to pharmacies only.
Yes, that’s contrary to recent trends in the 415 und 510, but Stuart wants the chance to cross-sell nicotine patches and gum. In his words, this would be “good for business.” Read all the deets below and here, at HealthyPharmacies.org.
The view from my tenement apartment’s living room, betwixt the roof of a garage and the hard partiers upstairs. Will Mr. Skorman’s proposal serve to slow this cascade of cigarette butts? We Can Only Hope:
Whatever survives the ten foot fall stays there forever, out of reach. Oh well.
That was the wind-up, and here’s the pitch:
San Francisco, Berkeley Missed Public Health Opportunity by Moving Tobacco Sales Out of Pharmacies
Pharmacy Pioneer Stuart Skorman Says Only Pharmacies Should Sell Tobacco, Help Smokers Quit
San Francisco and Berkeley missed an opportunity to help smokers quit when the cities moved all tobacco sales out of pharmacies, according to a new Bay Area health initiative. Instead of having smokers buy cigarettes in convenience stores and at other retailers, smokers should buy cigarettes only at pharmacy counters, says Stuart Skorman, founder of Elephant Pharmacy.
Launching HealthyPharmacies.org, Skorman is focused on making pharmacies centers of health and wellness at the community level. “They can’t just sell medicines to people who are sick. They must educate consumers and give them tools to lead healthier lives.”
Keeping cigarettes behind the pharmacy counter would do just that, Skorman says. When a smoker asks for a pack of cigarettes, pharmacy staff would have the opening to offer nicotine replacement, such as the patch or gum, or point smokers in the direction of counseling and other tools. The approach wouldn’t require a prescription for tobacco but would offer smokers tools to help them quit.
Ever more deets, after the jump
Well, let’s take local lawyer Rodel Rodis at his word when he recalls a conversation with then-Supervisor Gavin Newsom, excerpted below. And if you want, read Rodel’s whole woe-is-me tale of getting arrested by the SFPD for trying to pass a “counterfeit” $100 bill at a Walgreens. (Turned out that the lawyer’s money was little old school, but 100% genuine.)
Does this $100 bill necessarily look counterfeit to you? It shouldn’t. It’s just a little dated, that’s all – there’s no need to call the cops.
Anyway, as the litigation over this 2003 detention (non-arrest? arrest?) continues to infinity and beyond, here’s a new part of the story. When Mr. Rodis started going around saying how this bad treatment from Walgreens and the SFPD wouldn’t have been inflicted upon lesser-of -color notables such as Gavin Newsom or Tony Hall, he got a response:
“Newsom then related an incident that occurred when he was still in the private sector when he brought the daily earnings of his restaurant (Balboa Café) to the bank to deposit. He said the teller began counting the money and applied a counterfeit detector pen to a $100 bill which she found suspicious. The result confirmed that it was fake– unlike in my case where the pen applied by both the Walgreens cashier and manager showed that my $100 bill was genuine. ‘So what happened next?’ I asked Newsom. ‘Well, she returned the $100 bill to me and told me to be careful next time,’ he answered.”
Now I can pretty much guarantee you that if bank teller spots you trying to (innocently, of course) deposit a fake $100 bill, he or she won’t just hand it back to you! Typically, somebody’ll be on the horn, with a quickness, with the Secret Service - the bankers will immediately confiscate that funny money from you, and thereby ensure that you will be the one “eating the loss,” in industry parlance.
(I mean really, what are you supposed to do with a $100 bill you know is fake? Use it to buy a pack of gum, ending up with 99 real dollars? Deposit it in an ATM and pray that the people who count the money happen to be on the MDMA that night? That’s a dilly of a pickle to be in.)
Keep in mind this is Rodel’s version of the story, and of course he might look at the world a little differently than you. For example, this is behavior he describes as “refusing to sign a speeding ticket.” (Well, yes, that great-grandmother pointlessly refused to sign her 60 in a 45 speeding ticket, but that wasn’t exactly why she got (unnecessarily) Tasered, one might think.)
So There You Have It.
