NO New American Apparel on Valencia St!

Apparently AA want's to open a new location on Valencia St in the Mission, and a small boutique owner, DEMA, is leading the campaign opposing this. As a small business owner myself, I'll always support any resistance to a chain stores coming into our community, but I also oppose other forms of gentrification. The following was a comment I posted in response to her open letter to the Planning Commission of SF concerning AA (hopefully she didn't delete it from worldpress). (below my response is her letter)

My Comment:

I support your fight, and I'm sending a letter to the planning commission against AA. However, I would like to say that I don't agree with everything stated in your letter. I am very much against chain stores taking away from local businesses, but I'm also very much opposed to fancy shmasny expensive boutique stores like yours coming into the mission and bringing the rich obnoxious condo buyers. I would like to see local businesses that come into the mission offering something unique for the REAL Mission residents that lived here, live here, and want to continue living here. How about you sell something that most of us that live here in the Mission can afford and want to buy!

An Open Letter to the SF Planning Department

By Isaac

The following is an open letter from Dema Grim, local business owner, to Pilar LaValley of the San Francisco Planning Department:

Dear Pilar,

It has come to my attention that American Apparel  is interested in opening up on Valencia at 20th st.  I’d like to express my vehement opposition to them, or any other formula retailer, opening in the neighborhood.

I opened my shop in 1997 and since then have watched the Mission grow into the premier destination for small, independent designer boutiques.  This has been a long process involving convincing other business owners that it’s a viable neighborhood to do business in and convincing customers that their neighborhood need not consist solely of thrift stores and 99c stores.  The appearance of any formula retailer not only would lessen the sense of originality unique to the neighborhood but would also severely cut into our sales.  This would be disastrous especially in these volatile economic times when we are already struggling against the massive markdowns of the downtown retailers.

Please, please think carefully about the long term consequences of allowing formula retailers to invade our special neighborhood.

Thank you for your time,

Dema Grim

DEMA
1038 Valencia St
SF, CA 94110