You would be forgiven if you went to Canyon Market today and felt slightly disoriented–Where are the sausages? Where’s the cream cheese? Where are the cash registers?
Every day it seems there are changes at our neighborhood market.
Dimitri Vardakastanis, along with his brother and partner Bobby, have owned and managed Canyon Market for the past two-and-a-half years, as well as four other stores in San Francisco. Their goal is to provide highest quality products at the best prices possible and a great customer experience.
The original owners, Richard and Janet Tarlov, built the market from the ground up, opening in 2006. They stayed on as consultants for about six months. “We always had a good rapport with them. Everyone is busy but we try to stay as connected as we can,” notes Dimitri.
Gus Vardakastanis, the family patriarch, opened the original store, Haight-Ashbury Produce, in 1981. Four years later the family opened a second store in the Outer Sunset on Noriega Street. In 2015 they opened Gus’s Market in the Mission and soon after opened Gus’s Market in Mission Bay. They moved the original Noriega store into a newly renovated space one block away in 2021.
Gus died in 2017 after a tragic accident.
Dimitri and Bobby have been thinking about a number of changes for a long time and are now starting to see some of them come to life. Recently the Glen Park News sat down with Dimitri and his Director of Service,for Gus’s, Brian Keeffe, as they detailed the many improvements which have helped to streamline their operations and maximize the space.
The refrigeration units were purchased slightly used 18 years ago so replacing them was a priority. Most of them hold an extra two shelves of items, giving shoppers more options. The alcohol section was moved beyond the produce section to give more visibility as people enter the store.
For convenience the Health and Beauty products were moved to the front of the store near the cash registers. “Sometimes a fresh set of eyes shows you, if we reorganize this and move this over there you suddenly feel like you moved to a brand new spot and you had no idea you’d have this new room,” noted Brian.`
They worked with two different architects who specialize in grocery operations. Together they tried to make maximum use of the relatively small space which can be challenging at times.
Canyon Market distinguishes itself from other Gus’s markets in its in-house bakery, which operates 24/7 making bread for the bakery and their sandwiches, and its homemade soup bar. Dimitri would like to bring these ideas to some of their other stores.
The coffee bar, previously managed by Canyon Market, is now a partnership with Andytown, a local independent husband and wife team who own the roasting company, with similar values and ethics with how they source coffee, roast it and train their employees.
What has the transition been like for the other 70-80 employees? Dimitri says, “I think anytime there’s a change in ownership there’s a shakiness and people get nervous about what the new expectations are. It’s different when you’re opening a new store with new employees versus taking over a fully staffed existing store. Our main goal was making sure that we can build that bridge and making sure that they understood what we were trying to bring to the table. The store is, in essence, just a new generation of Canyon Market.”
All cafe staff either are now employed by Andytown or working within the other various departments; no one was laid off.
Dimitri and Bobby have slowly introduced some of their own private label Gus’s products, including their own olive oil, and some of the prepackaged salads.
As in the past, all deli items are made in-house. The same chef since the opening of Canyon Market is still running the the food service program.
An under-the-radar perk that the Glen Park News hasn’t been aware of, is that buying four bottles of wine will get you a 10% discount.
Other upgrades won’t be visible to shoppers. New epoxy flooring in the back room makes it safer for employees; refrigeration units on the back end that control the units on the front end; new hand sinks in the food service department; a new walk-in cooler in the receiving area.
One thing they’ve eliminated, hopefully temporarily in their view, is the bulk department. “Once we’re done resetting the store we want to take a look at how we can reimagine it,” said Dimitri.
“This is going to sound corny,” says Dimitri, “but every neighborhood our stores are in is special in its own way. Every store starts taking on the DNA of its neighborhood as time goes on. Canyon Market has a very strong presence, being here for many years, and it has really taken on what Glen Park represents– liveliness and individuality.”
