This Local Grocer Is Taking Over A Huge Ninth Avenue Location

San Francisco-made Luke’s Local will open a new shop in the Sunset. | Luke’s Local

Luke’s Local is set to open in the former Lemonade space on the busy Inner Sunset corridor

One of San Francisco’s favorite boutique grocery stores is expanding. There have been rumblings Luke’s Local will open a new location in the Inner Sunset. In fact, the San Francisco Business Times reported in January 2025 owner Luke Oppenheim had already secured the lease at 1266 Ninth Avenue. It’s the former Lemonade location, which closed in 2019, the restaurant chain’s biggest San Francisco outpost at some 3,500 square feet. Now, permit signage outside of the building confirms that Luke’s is really on the way to the neighborhood’s busiest corridor.

Luke’s Local did not respond to requests to interview before publication. Still, odds are that this fourth location, which the Times confirms is similarly sized to other outposts, will offer much of what Luke’s Local fans have come to love in its 15-year run. That means high-end produce, coffee, and sandwiches to-go, plus local producers like chocolatiers and bakers that, sometimes, Luke’s is the only source carrying.

The nearly six-year vacancy for the Inner Sunset address is notable. The rest of the block is home to Tartine’s latest San Francisco outpost, Ebisu, and Um.ma, and it’s considered the gateway to Golden Gate Park, so the huge building’s quietude is unusual. When Luke’s opens in May, it will join a new cast of characters on Ninth Avenue, including spacious dessert haven Sweet Glory, the just-reopened Nanking Bistro, and Kothai Republic on the corner of Ninth Avenue and Judah Street.