Skates on Haight rolled into the Haight-Ashbury 45 years ago, not long after the counterculture revolution. The shop’s skateboards and roller skates glided off the shelves.

That’s far less true today.

With people increasingly buying skates online, the store’s future is in question. Its survival depends on signing co-tenants to meet the cost of continuing to operate, in an area that is seeing more and more empty storefronts.

“The Haight is my home, I don’t want to leave it after being here for more than four decades,” said Carol Sloan, whose family has owned the store since it opened in 1974. “I’m excited to have co-tenants, but the anxiety is I may not be able to find them.”

Like other neighborhoods, the Haight is seeing fewer shoppers as e-commerce takes over. Vagrancy and construction have also hurt stores. And the area is having a hard time evolving: Younger residents are clamoring for more restaurants, but it’s hard to change a street that became synonymous with the hippie movement.

Having lots of shops catering to tourists “was a great thing to do 20 years ago,” before the internet took off, said Haight resident and activist Steven Madrid, who’s also on the board of neighboring Cole Valley Improvement Association.

These days, “I don’t see the street evolving to meet modern needs like having more food options,” Madrid said.

Vacancies afflict other San Francisco neighborhoods including North Beach and the Castro, which count around 45 and 38 empty storefronts, respectively, according to city data. While not as dire, the Haight has at least 15 empty shops between Stanyan Street and Central Avenue, based on an informal count that does not include side streets.

The Upper Haight has strict zoning rules that don’t allow for more entertainment and food establishments, city officials said. But these days tourists and locals tend to want more experiences and fewer things. The Lower Haight, to the east, has allowed the addition of more restaurants.

“On corridors like Haight-Ashbury where storefront vacancy is a big concern, I’m encouraging merchants and neighbors to consider changes to codes and to historically more restrictive zoning,” Supervisor Vallie Brown, whose district includes the Haight-Ashbury, said via email. Restrictions on retail corridors make it harder to keep them vibrant, she said.

The city would need to authorize zoning changes.

In a recent data analysis by Hoodline, the Upper Haight has 3.15 restaurants for every 1,000 residents, versus 6.29 per 1,000 in the Lower Haight, which is also less populous.

Two other nearby areas, Hayes Valley and Divisadero Street, are embracing restaurants to compete for passersby. From 2010 to 2015, Hayes Valley saw a 143% rise in sales tax revenue from the hospitality industry, which includes restaurants — the largest increase of any San Francisco neighborhood. Divisadero grew by 136%, while the Haight grew by only 21% over the same time period, according to data from the San Francisco controller’s Budget and Analysis Division.

Recent business closures in the Haight include the Tibetan Shop and Earthsong, both jewelry and clothing businesses. Braindrop, a tattoo parlor, closed in March after 20 years of operation. The former American Apparel store at 1615 Haight St. has been vacant a long time.

Construction is part of the problem. In September, the city began a two-year project to improve the condition of Haight Street, planning for better pedestrian amenities including street parking, lighting and signage. That’s been hard on business owners such as Rajesh Shrestha of Aquamarine Enterprises, a Nepalese jewelry and art store.

“My sales have gone down at least 20% because of this mess,” Shrestha said, referring to the construction. “It deters tourists and locals.”

Street problems, including drugs and crime, also hurt sales. Scuffles break out almost daily, Shrestha said, leading to worries about safety. One afternoon last week, a group of young panhandlers sat in front of stores blocking sidewalks and yelling.

For Sloan, of Skates on Haight, rent has been below market rate because of her long-standing ties with her landlord, both parties said. The Peng Family Trust owns the property, and Linda Peng said she considers Sloan family. She has extended a month-to-month contract after Sloan’s lease came up at the end of last year.

“We’re giving her the time she needs to figure things out while we take a loss on the property,” Peng said. “But we can’t hold out indefinitely.”

So far, artists, cannabis companies and local street food vendors have shown interest in sharing space with Skates on Haight. Any agreement would need approval from the landlord. But nothing has been signed, Sloan said. She declined to provide rent and revenue figures.

“My online business is doing all right, but I really want to keep the store,” she said. “I’ll be awfully bored running something that doesn’t include talking to people,” she said.

Shwanika Narayan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: shwanika.narayan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @shwanika