Apparently there isn't room at the intersection of Haight and Scott for more than one Santa Clara Market.
Yesterday, owner Fawzi Swalim of the New Santa Clara Market at 799 Haight Street told us that the store will soon be merged into the Santa Clara Natural Organic Market across the street.
Within the next three or four months, the two markets will become one. The organic market at 798 Haight will continue to offer its healthy lineup of products, plus some of the... less healthy offerings of its parent market, including beer, wine, liquor, and tobacco.
As Swalim explained, the organic market wasn't proving quite enough of a draw on its own.
"[There's] not too much business in selling health food without the alcohol," Swalim said.
Originally from Palestine, Swalim moved here 35 years ago at the age of 26. He has operated the New Santa Clara Market since 1989, he said, opening on the same day as the Loma Prieta earthquake.
He also used to run the Divisadero Farmers Market at 550 Divisadero (where Bi-Rite is now) from 1999 until it closed in 2011. A year later, in 2012, Swalim's Santa Clara Natural Organic Market opened at 798 Haight.
Swalim said his long-term plan was always to merge the new shop with the original New Santa Clara Market. In combining the two, he's also planning to add some new inventory and features to attract customers.
"We’re going to have sandwiches and a juice bar," Swalim said. "We will also have some tables in the front. We’re putting in a larger refrigerator in the back where the soda, wine and beer will all be in one place."
If all goes well, look for the new hybrid market to re-launch in the mid-December timeframe.
