This widely adored SF corner store is like a ‘little village’

San Francisco’s Lower Haight has no shortage of corner stores. But there’s only one with a famous dog mascot and a manager who will throw you a birthday party just for being his neighbor. 

For 20 years, Key Food Market co-manager Hafeth “Omar” Mansouri has been making a habit of getting his neighbors to connect. But it’s only been since June that everyone has been able to catch a glimpse into the tight-knit community he’s fostered.

That’s thanks to a new Instagram series he launched called “Corner Stories” under the handle “handsomemajor” (Major is his dog). The motto of the account? “Be kind, be nice, love your neighbors and your community.”

“I just wanted to introduce the neighbors,” Mansouri told me from behind the counter one Thursday afternoon. “… We need to shorten the gap between generations of San Franciscans.”

The Instagram account features snippets of mundane corner store daily life as captured by Mansouri. He points his phone camera at customers, asking them about their lives. Some are shy, offering little more than a bashful smile and their name; others are ebullient, dressed to the nines on their way out to the bars. 

When I dropped by Key Food Market, Mansouri was warm and chatty in a purple sweater, his large (and also talkative) German shepherd, Major, by his side. Major is Key Food Market’s resident guard dog, but also its mascot — various portraits of him drawn or photographed by neighbors decorate the store.

“Everybody in the neighborhood is in love with Major,” said owner Imad Shaheen. “… Because of Major, Omar can do no wrong.” 

Shaheen, for his part, is a fan of Mansouri’s Instagram enterprise. He said the account’s growing popularity is a testament not just to the cute dog, but Mansouri himself.

“He’s a naturally happy young man, he’s very compassionate, and his personality brings that, too,” he said. “People love him.” 

If you look closely, you’ll find other personal touches scattered throughout Key Food Market — the cookies at the front counter baked by Shaheen’s wife, the wall of holiday cards sent from regulars, a sign out front that encourages those who are hungry or thirsty to come in and ask for help.

As Mansouri and I chatted, our conversation was periodically interrupted by the chime of the door bell. Customers all stopped to banter, from the 20-something stocking up on hard seltzers to the former regular dropping by the neighborhood for old time’s sake. Dogs were also warmly welcomed – Mansouri greeted each pooch with a treat tossed over the counter (Major, meanwhile, seems to receive a near-constant supply of snacks).

While all the conversations I witnessed stayed light, Mansouri said that sometimes people feel so comfortable with him that they share more personal aspects of their lives, from breakups to financial difficulties. 

“That means they felt something from you,” he said. “If they share their sadness, it’s double sadness, and if they share their joy, it’s double joy.”

It’s easy to see why people feel so comfortable around Mansouri — he knows every single person’s name, and their dog’s name, too. His kindness goes beyond polite affability, though. Many a neighbor I spoke with had a story of a time he went out of his way to make their day. 

Sarah Loomis, who has been a Key Food Market customer for 19 years, said that one time when she was really sick, Mansouri closed the shop for a few minutes just to deliver Nyquil to her doorstep. 

“I can’t name another corner store that would do that,” she said. “I consider him a friend. He’s part of my family dynamic here in the city.”

Jesse Foster, a 14-year veteran of the market who said he often visits three times a day, said that on his 77th birthday, Mansouri surprised him. 

“Omar had a table set up with drinks and apple cider for me,” he said. “It was so touching.”

Relationships at Key Food Market also extend beyond Mansouri. He fosters a community that encourages everyone to connect with each other. Some of this can be seen in the snippets he captures on Instagram — neighbors who live half a block apart meeting for the first time over a bottle of wine; a group on the sidewalk celebrating a newly married couple; tourists staying at the nearby Casa Loma Hotel being welcomed to the city.

Ange Morais, a customer since 2008, said that during the pandemic, the market set up a few tables and chairs out front. Another neighbor she met there — an artist — would sit at the tables and draw with her now 9-year-old son. 

Even though she’s since moved a bit further away, Morais still visits the market daily.

“I have to pass two other stores to go there,” she said. “Community is a super big part of what keeps me going. Whatever mood I’m in or however many dogs or children I have with me or if I’m by myself, I know I can always just go there and just, I don’t know, it feels like home.”

Mansouri himself first moved to San Francisco from Tunisia when he was 20 years old for “adventure,” he said. For 20 of his 25 years in the city, he’s worked at the market, and he’s lived in the neighborhood for just as long. 

In a period when every news outlet is declaring San Francisco dead, Mansouri’s Instagram endeavor is in part an effort to showcase the good parts of the city. 

“Even if there is bad stuff, what are you going to do?” he said. “I don’t know, it’s my home. I love it.”

Key Food Market has been in the neighborhood for over 90 years, owner Shaheen, who purchased the store in 1999, told Hoodline. In 2015, he told Hoodline that he’d seen Key Food’s customer base shift over the years from 50% walk-ins to 70% regulars (Mansouri now estimates their business is 90% regulars). 

The city has changed, yes — but, as Mansouri told me, “a watched pot never boils.”

“At least me personally, I’m adaptable,” he said. “… Our neighborhood is not destroyed. It’s fine. It’s still here. Yes, it is a little different generation, maybe a different lifestyle. But that’s life.” 

As the “Corner Stories” series grows in popularity and more people find out about what some call the “little village” of Key Food Market, the regulars are excited to see their beloved third place get its due. And if it helps change the national narrative about San Francisco, even better.

“We hear in the media all the time all the stuff going on in the city with homelessness and crime and fentanyl, but stuff like this is what makes it worth living in San Francisco,” Loomis said. “ … What keeps me here is someone like Omar.”