San Francisco transit leaders have unveiled a new commercial space at Chinatown-Rose Pak Station, a pop-up that has become the first store inside a city-owned Muni train station.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency confirmed with The Standard that “Made in Chinatown,” an Asian-focused artwork and snack business, is the first such retail establishment in a Muni-only station.
A small space filled with colorful Chinese knots, art pieces, fake flower baskets and boxes of Dragon’s Beard Candy, the store is located right outside the fare gate at street level. It will remain for about three months, until a new tenant comes in.
"Made in Chinatown" pop-up at Chinatown-Rose Pak Station. | Source: Han Li/The Standard
There have been other stores in stations serving both Muni and BART, but those stations are all owned by BART, while the Chinatown station, the northern terminus of the Central Subway, is owned by the city.
“Chinatown community leaders are helping the SFMTA rethink how we design and manage all our stations,” the agency's director, Jeff Tumlin, told The Standard. “We have community-led events in the plaza most weekends, community-led art—and now, community-led retail.”
Jason Gallegos, a senior manager of strategic real estate at SFMTA, said that the new shop is a collaboration among different city agencies and local community groups.
“I think it's a win-win for everyone,” Gallegos said at the press conference in front of the store. “I am looking forward to the great things to come.”
Other Muni stations like Montgomery and Embarcadero, which share space with BART, have commercial spaces on their mezzanine levels and in spaces like Andrew Hallidie Plaza, the sunken gateway leading from Powell Station to the Union Square shopping district. Historically, some decades-old stations in more residential neighborhoods, such as West Portal, are not built to house small businesses and do not have any stores inside.
"We wish this space will continue to thrive,” Kitty Fong, a project manager at the city’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, told The Standard. “So people and passengers can buy things when they are taking public transit.”
Her office provided a grant of $75,000 to kick off this pop-up.
Fong added that in Asia, many train and subway stations have commercial spaces where people can easily buy food, drinks, newspapers and other items while traveling. In San Francisco, by contrast, opening a store can require lots of permits, so this space can help struggling Asian American artists have a brick-and-mortar shop.
But will more stores be coming to transit stations? Not many.
Chinatown-Rose Pak Station has two commercial spaces, with the other one currently under construction. Union Square, which has a lengthy underground connection between the Central Subway and the trains running beneath Market Street, has some commercial potential, according to the SFMTA. The Central Subway’s other two stations, Yerba Buena/Moscone Station and 4th & Brannan Station, which are essentially just platforms at street level, do not.