Popular SF grocer killed by hit-and-run driver

The public parklet in front of Haight Street Market in San Francisco was the scene of a makeshift wake Friday after news that the store’s founder, Konstantinos “Gus” Vardakastanis, was killed doing what he loved most: searching for the best fruit and vegetables for his customers.

“He died with his boots on,” said longtime customer and neighbor Jennifer Brokaw, praising Haight Street Market as “one of the reasons we still live in the city and haven’t fled.”

Vardakastanis was killed early Friday when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver while crossing a street in the city’s Bayview neighborhood, where he had gone to the San Francisco Produce Market to peruse and purchase goods for his stores. The 57-year-old co-owner of Haight Street Market, Noriega Produce and Gus’s Community Market died at the scene of the collision, according to the San Francisco medical examiner.

Vardakastanis, a Greek immigrant from the island of Zakynthos, had run the family businesses with his wife, Georgia, since the early 1980s. They opened Gus’s Community Market in the Mission District in 2015 with the help of sons Dimitri and Bobby.

Gus Vardakastanis puts strawberries on display at Haight Street Market in San Francisco. Vardakastanis died in a hit-and-run incident Friday. Gus Vardakastanis puts strawberries on display at Haight Street Market in San Francisco. Vardakastanis died in a hit-and-run incident Friday. Photo: Connor Radnovich / / The Chronicle Photo: Connor Radnovich / / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close Popular SF grocer killed by hit-and-run driver 1 / 17 Back to Gallery

Officers were dispatched to Jerrold Avenue and Toland Street about 2:15 a.m. on reports of a collision, said Sgt. Michael Andraychak, a San Francisco Police Department spokesman. Officers found Vardakastanis gravely injured and lying on Jerrold Avenue.

Jerrold Avenue is a busy thoroughfare that divides the two sides of the San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market, which vendors say is dangerous for all of the people who work and do business there throughout the night. The city announced a $100 million development plan in 2012 that would reroute public traffic away from the market, but that work has not yet happened.

“I hope this wakes them up,” said Bob Pizza, owner of the What a Tomato produce company and a longtime friend of Vardakastanis. “You’re dealing with a bunch of people, a bunch of forklifts and a bunch of criminals at midnight. This shouldn’t be open to the public.”

Pizza had chatted with Vardakastanis just minutes before he left to walk across Jerrold Avenue to the north side of the market, where the grocer had recently started leasing extra space to load his truck.

“I heard a car coming through at excessive speed,” said Stanley Corriea Jr. of Stanley Produce Co., Vardakastanis’ neighbor. “He wouldn’t have had a chance.”

Corriea said he heard sirens immediately after the crash, as if the vehicle that hit Vardakastanis was in a pursuit.

Investigators learned a silver sedan struck Vardakastanis as he was crossing the road, then sped from the scene, authorities said.

Police are looking for a sedan with possible windshield and front-end damage, Andraychak said. At 2:12 a.m., the city ShotSpotter system detected gunfire at the intersection of McKinnon and Newhall avenues, less than a mile from where Vardakastanis was killed five minutes later.

Officers recovered only shell casings at the scene and did not find any suspects or victims, said Officer Giselle Linnane, a Police Department spokeswoman. Police could not immediately say whether the gunfire had any connection to the hit and run.

Mayor Ed Lee said he was “heartbroken at the loss.”

“He provided healthy and affordable produce to the neighborhoods he served and employed many residents at his three local markets. His welcoming and entrepreneurial spirit will be missed by the many people he touched,” Lee said in a statement.

London Breed, president of the Board of Supervisors, said of Vardakastanis, “He kept his prices affordable and was very committed to hiring locally, including those who needed a second chance.”

Shoppers who Vardakastanis befriended over the years came in and out of his grocery stores Friday morning, hugging each other and staff, and dropping off flowers and condolence notes.

Robin Dick, an artist who has lived in the Haight Street neighborhood since 1988, said she had known Vardakastanis for years.

“I’m still kind of in shock. He was a character, definitely a character,” the 62-year-old Dick said outside the Haight Street Market. “For someone known to be a little crusty, he was such a generous, kind man.”

Dick remembered Gus’ vibrant personality. His one-liners. His quips.

“He was always very present, very approachable,” she said. “He wasn’t one of these behind-the-curtain kind of guys.”

Vardakastanis was known to be in his stores at all hours to joke with customers, and even sneak bottles of wine from his personal winery into the grocery bags of loyal patrons, then wave at cashiers not to charge them.

He would always ask customers if there were things they wanted that he didn’t have and made his own mental list of what they were.

Mike McCarthy, a freelance Internet technology worker, has lived in the Haight for 18 years and was a regular shopper at the Haight Street Market. Standing outside the store after stopping to offer condolences to staff, he recalled Vardakastanis’ giving spirit.

“I came here once at 8 in the morning and got a parking ticket. Next time I was here, he gave me a $30 gift certificate,” the 51-year-old McCarthy said of Vardakastanis. “My kids grew up on Gus. He just gave us a sense of place.”

At the San Francisco Wholesale Market, vendors who were wrapping up work Friday morning were visibly shaken, and remarked on the grocer’s high-quality standards and hard work.

“Gus was a heck of a businessman,” said Pizza. “Look at what he built — Haight Street, Noriega Produce, Gus’s, these are all top-notch stores.”

Gary Camarda, a friend of Vardakastanis’ and owner of North Bay Produce, one of the grocer’s regular stops at the market, added, “Gus was a pleasure. He was a great customer. I tell people, if you ever wanted to know how to live your life, follow Gus.”

Anyone with information on the hit-and-run can call the Police Department’s tip line at (415) 575-4444 or text TIP411, beginning the message with “SFPD.”

Jenna Lyons, David R. Baker and Tara Duggan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com, dbaker@sfchronicle.com, tduggan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno, @DavidBakerSF, @TaraDuggan