Proposed Pilates ‘Chain’ Studio on Valencia Street Rejected by SF Planning Commission Over Formula Retail Ban

The article was originally published on https://sfist.com/2025/10/06/proposed-pilates-chain-studio-on-valencia-street-rejected-by-sf-planning-commission-over-formula-retail-ban/The 1,300-store chain Club Pilates was hoping to swoop into a Valencia Street storefront that’s been vacant for a year and a half. The SF Planning Commission still deemed this formula retail, and rejected their bid. It seemed like there might be a thaw in San Francisco’s well-known formula retail ban that discourages large chain businesses from many neighborhoods. After all, the SF Board of Supervisors voted to allow formula retail on Van Ness Avenue in April of this year, and the 2021 controversy over an El Farolito in North Beach seemed to at least galvanize the late-night burrito demographic into a more favorable