In January, Peet's Coffee closed at 919 Cole St. after 12 years. The building owner's first plan was another coffee shop. Dan Serot owns Finnegans Wake and helped found the Cole Valley Merchants Association. He told The Standard that the merchants group and the Cole Valley Improvement Association wrote the landlord a joint letter instead. "We said, 'Please, we don't need any more coffee. We need food,'" Serot said.
The space is now set to become the third Pasta Supply Co, run by chef Anthony Strong, who has lived in Cole Valley for twelve years.
That letter explains a lot about how the corridor is changing this fall. Cole Valley's commercial strip is just one and a half blocks of Cole Street, between Parnassus and Carl. A stretch that short doesn't get many vacancies, so each one matters. Over the past few years, most of them have gone to people who already live here or to tenants the neighborhood's organized groups argued for.
Three Storefronts in a Row, Three Neighbors Behind Them
Look at three neighboring addresses on Cole Street and see who runs them.
Simple SF is the zero-waste refill store run by Abbe Hoenscheid. She opened on Carl Street in 2022, and moved to Cole Street last year.
One storefront down is Double Black, the coffee counter inside Yardsale's Cole Valley flagship at 925 Cole St. Cristina Ashbaugh and Kelly McGee started Yardsale, an outdoor gear and apparel brand, in their Cole Valley garage in 2023. They opened the store and coffee shop this summer.
The space between those two, the former Peet's, is the one Strong is taking. All three owners are from the neighborhood. Hoenscheid noticed the same thing: "It's so mom-and-pop," she told The Standard. "You don't really have that feeling in a lot of neighborhoods. You feel like you're in a small town."
Jim Angelus of Cole Valley Tavern fits the pattern too. The Standard describes him as one of the longtime residents opening businesses that are reshaping the neighborhood they live in. "It feels great to see people want to invest in Cole Valley, and I love having options," he said. "My wife and I joke that we've got to get out of Cole Valley this week."
Even the money is local. Strong is paying for the Cole Valley build-out through crowdfunding instead of bank loans, according to The Standard's August report. The Pasta Supply Co Cole Valley page lists two main tiers:
- Pasta for a Year, $550: pick any pasta to take home every week for a year
- Pasta for Life, $4,000: the same weekly pasta, for life
"We'd rather pay all of them back in pasta than hit up banks for loans," Strong told The Standard.
What's Actually Open as of October 12
Of the four new names on the corridor, one is open and three are still pending. Here is where each one stands.
Open now
- Double Black, 925 Cole St. Open daily, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The business page lists drip-coffee refills, free alternative milks, cardamom buns and cookies. It opened after construction and permitting delays, the Gazetteer reported in July. The Standard described lines forming outside almost every day.
Announced, not yet confirmed open
- Pasta Supply Co, 919 Cole St. The opening target was October, with no specific day announced. As of today, the restaurant's Cole Valley page still says "COMING SOON TO COLE VALLEY!"
- Jiro Lin's new concept, former Kamekyo space. Kamekyo was a sushi restaurant on Cole for 28 years and closed this year. Lin, chef and owner of Hamano Sushi in Noe Valley, is bringing a new concept to the space "in the coming months." No name or opening date has been published.
- Schatzgarten, Parnassus Avenue. Katie Humphries' antique store is going into a storefront just off Cole, around the corner from Luke's Local, in the space a florist left in July. The Standard's September 3 story said she would open that month. I haven't found confirmation that it has.
When Pasta Supply Co does open, expect pappardelle and mafaldine being made in the front window. You'll be able to buy fresh pasta and sauces to go or sit inside or at a few sidewalk tables. The Standard says Pasta Supply Co offers around 30 pasta shapes and 15 sauces. Serot is looking forward to the fusilli in spicy tomato vodka sauce and the hot meatball parmesan sandwiches.
The Merchants Association Has Been Shaping the Street Since 2023
The coffee letter wasn't a one-off. The Cole Valley Merchants Association launched in 2023, and The Standard credits it with pushing the corridor's recent changes along. Its biggest practical win was with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. The association got loading zones moved off the main street and commercial loading hours shortened, which frees up parking for customers who drive in.
"We've raised money for the streetlights and night markets, and we fixed the parking. I'm really proud."
Dan Serot, Finnegans Wake, speaking to The Standard
New tenants pick up on this quickly. Humphries doesn't live in Cole Valley. She went to her first Merchants Association meeting a couple of weeks before The Standard interviewed her. "Everyone's so supportive, they're so organized," she said. "This is a special neighborhood."
Luke Spray runs Civic Joy Fund, a nonprofit that organizes markets and pop-ups across the city. Speaking to The Standard, he compared Cole Valley to what happened in West Portal: "It was a bit sleepy, and then you have local merchants who came in and said, 'Let's do this here. Why aren't we doing something in our own backyard?'"
The recent wave began around early 2024, when Woods Beer and Wine Co. opened a few months after local salad chain Blue Barn moved in. Clothing boutique Rising Star Laundry came next. Some of the new businesses moved into spaces that had sat empty for a long time. Double Black, for example, took over a former pharmacy.
Built for Neighbors, Marketed to the Whole City
Local owners don't keep the street small. Many of the new businesses want customers from all over San Francisco, and The Standard says that will change the feel of the street. On Friday nights, the line for Woods' back patio runs down the block.
Simple SF shows the effect clearly. In September 2026, Hoenscheid told The Standard her sales keep growing 40% to 50% year over year, partly because of shoppers from outside Cole Valley. "We're the only zero-waste refill store in the city right now, so people have to come from all parts of the city," she said. She also said moving onto the main corridor from Carl Street made "such a big difference."
Double Black is handling both audiences. Its iced hojicha lattes with black-sesame cold foam pull TikTok visitors. The owners added free refills on drip coffee to welcome those visitors and also locals who might assume a hojicha-latte shop isn't for them.
The newcomers share the block with businesses that go back decades. Cole Hardware opened in 1920. Val de Cole, a Legacy Business liquor store, has been there since the 1930s. Finnegans Wake celebrated its 50th anniversary in September. In August, Strong named Cole Valley Tavern, Beit Rima, Zazie and Wooden Coffeehouse as the mainstays his restaurant will join.
The Next Date on Cole Street Is December 10
If you missed the Cole Valley Fair, it happened on September 27 on Cole Street and Parnassus Avenue. The Cole Valley Improvement Association calendar shows no neighborhood events for October.
The next street date is Cole Valley Nights: Holiday Nights on Thursday, December 10, from 4 to 9 p.m. on Cole Street between Carl and Parnassus. According to Sunset Mercantile's event page, the Cole Valley Merchants Association presents the night market with Sunset Mercantile and Civic Joy Fund. It includes live music, local eateries and the Cole Valley Entertainment Zone, which allows to-go drinks from local bars and restaurants. The page also has sign-ups for vendors and volunteers.
That's the merchants association's own event, partly funded by its streetlight and night-market fundraising. By December, it may also be the first night market with fresh pasta at 919 Cole.
If you own in Cole Valley, the new businesses opening between Carl and Parnassus are part of what you'd be selling, and they belong in the listing story. Darlene Perry builds marketing around details like these. To see what your home is worth as Cole Street fills in, get your free home valuation.
