Gus’s Community Market, the local mini-chain that began with Haight-Ashbury Produce (now Haight Street Market) before expanding to include several other community grocery stores, is now set to take over Glen Park’s Canyon Market.
The two family-run local grocers have announced that, as of Dec. 21, Canyon Market would transfer ownership to Gus’s.
Under the agreement, the Glen Park grocery store will become Gus's fifth location in San Francisco. Canyon Market’s signage and its staff of 90 will remain, but some store branding will eventually include the Gus’s Community Market logos. Additionally, Canyon co-founder Richard Tarlov will stay on for a period to assist with the transition.
Richard and fellow co-founder Janet Tarlov are pleased with passing on the torch of ownership to Gus's.
“Gus’s clearly has a proven track record there, giving us the assurance of the long-term viability of our store in the neighborhood,” Janet Tarlov said in a statement.
The acquisition comes a few months after Canyon Market struggled with a rodent infestation earlier this year, which Tarlov believed was due to a nearby neighbor spreading bird seed.
Konstantinos “Gus” Vardakastanis founded Haight Street Produce in 1981, and Noriega Produce in the Sunset four years later. Gus’s later expanded to two stores in the Mission and in Mission Bay. Noriega Produce relocated one block down the street and rebranded as Gus's in 2021. Vardakastanis’ sons, Dimitri and Bobby Vardakastanis, have run the company since Gus was killed in a late-night hit-and-run in 2017.