San Francisco Flower Market bids farewell to SoMa location after nearly 70 years
Thursday was the final morning for a San Francisco mainstay at its longtime location as the SF Flower Mart prepares to move from SoMa to the Potrero Hill neighborhood.
The San Francisco Flower Market has been officially in operation for a century and located at the South of Market building at 6th and Brannan since 1956. After business on Thursday, the SF Flower Mart will close up shop at its longtime home for good as vendors pack up to relocate to a different neighborhood.
While the move for flower vendors at the San Francisco Flower Mart has been a long time coming, the transition out of the SoMa location to the market's new home at 901 16th St. has been bittersweet for many of them who have been here for years or even decades.
One man who told CBS News Bay Area he was 96 said he has selling flowers in SoMa since the day it opened.
While some vendors said they were nervous about the move, Kilroy Realty was able to find a new parcel of land for the new state-of-the-art facility that the market will transition to over the next week.
"We've been here since 1956. None of the vendors like change, but it really is an exciting time for the market. We've got a brand new state of the art building where we get loading docks which we've never have had here before," explained Jeanne Boes, the General Manager and COO of the San Francisco Flower Mart. "The market has evolved and transitioned over the years. There used to be farmers in the Bay Area that would bring their goods in. Now we're a global market."
As the market's last day at the Brannan St. location wound down, many of the vendor were turning their attention to packing up for the move to Potrero Hill. The 901 16th St. location will open for its first day of business at the start of the new year on Jan. 2.
