San Francisco Flower Market opens for the last time at SOMA location

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The San Francisco Flower Market opened for the last time at its SOMA location Thursday.

Starting January 2, it's moving to a new spot at 16th and Mississippi Streets in the Portero Hill neighborhood.

For some, it'll be hard to say goodbye after nearly seven decades on 6th and Brannan Streets.

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San Francisco Flower Market Executive Director Jeanne Taggart Boes said she's feeling melancholy about the move.

"I feel like I grew up in this market," she said. "There's a lot of folks that have mixed feelings right now. Everyone loved to stay here. No one likes change. We've been in this facility since 1956. We've been in the city since 1912. This is the fourth move that we're making in our existence. And it's a little sad, but it's also really positive."

Taitlyn Dompor buys flowers at the market for events and is looking at the positive.

"It'd be nice to see it in a new location, a little bit more convenient," said the Vallejo resident.

96-year-old William Neve agrees.

"I had a lot of nice experiences," Neve said. "I made a nice living in this business so I'm happy now to see it moving to a more efficient building."

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He and his family were growers and he is now a wholesaler in the industry.

"I'm the only one surviving from the opening day of the market," he said adding he was there on the opening and closing of the market in that location.

Boes said 23 of the current 35 vendors are moving to the new location with some retiring.

"We're becoming a 501 c3 to support floral agriculture in Northern California, to suppress the rents for the vendors here and keep the prices stable," Boes said. "It's a very tricky business to do in a city as expensive as San Francisco and as expensive as California. It's hard to be a grower of any kind in California right now. So we are here to support an industry that employs a lot of Californians."

The same real estate investment firm that owns the new flower market space, which is smaller, bought the old space.