After countless false alarms, a run-in with a Jollibee employee or two, a couple dozen frantic emails to a beleaguered Jollibee spokesperson, and some challenging conversations with colleagues and loved ones concerned about my well-being, we can finally, FINALLY report that the Market Street Jollibee is going to open on July 31, a person familiar with the matter confirmed with Gazetteer SF.
The Standard first reported it, which we can only chalk up to those dozens of emails driving away that poor beleaguered spokesperson. (All is forgiven; it’s Jolly spaghetti under the bridge.)
This is the best news; in fact, I’m feeling such a swell of civic pride that I considered earnestly writing “Let’s go, San Francisco!,” though I will not at this time.
The reason for that pride is that the Market Street Jollibee felt, for years, like a synecdoche for the state of downtown. Its opening felt forever stalled, like its late, long-suffering neighbor the San Francisco Centre, content to stand as a reminder of the area’s decline. (The Chronicle’s Elena Kadvany did a bang-up job detailing the permitting and regulatory snafus that have hindered Jollibee’s opening.)
It is the first Jollibee to open in San Francisco proper in a decade and a half; for years, people had to trek to Serramonte Center in Daly City (or Alameda, more recently, for their fix.)
Credit where credit is due, though: The intrepid TikToker and PR person Duc Luu first broke the news in a video Monday afternoon after doing his own hounding of Jollibee’s retail employees. (Seriously, everyone at Jollibee HQ deserves a raise.) There were hints that the shop was soon to open last week: namely that its all-black boarded windows had been removed and a "now hiring” sign placed prominently.
We are not fools: Like with just about every San Francisco retail business, a grand opening is merely a suggestion, a guesstimate. It could open on the day, as promised; or it could take a few more weeks. At least we can now cross off every day on our calendars until a Chickenjoy-spaghetti combo will be available downtown for weekday lunch.
As for me, I’m going to start exercising in preparation.
