San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced Thursday that he is suing to shut down two convenience stores on the same block in the Tenderloin, accusing them of being fronts for illegal gambling.
Chiu said lawsuits have been filed against the owners and managers of the SF Discount Market at 238 Leavenworth Street and the Tenderloin Market and Deli at 200 Leavenworth Street.
“For law abiding residents, there is nothing convenient about these stores,” Chiu said in a statement. “They have been a blight on the neighborhood for too long and are fronts for gambling dens and fencing operations. These two stores are endangering the safety, health, and welfare of their Tenderloin neighbors.”
Mayor London Breed said, “By rooting this illegal behavior out of the Tenderloin, we are making the entire neighborhood safer for residents, small businesses, and workers.”
According to the legal complaint filed against SF Discount Market, an undercover SFPD officer saw at least five electronic gambling operations in the back of the store back in May. In a separate incident, the owner of a hookah lounge called police after someone at the store tried to sell him hookah pipes engraved with the name of his business.