Safeway announced on Tuesday that it will close its Webster Street supermarket on Feb. 7, a blow to San Francisco’s Fillmore and Japantown neighborhoods that have pushed the grocery chain to keep the struggling store open.

In a letter to Mayor London Breed, Safeway said it had been set to close 11 months earlier, in March of this year, but “extended its operations … to provide a greater transition period for the community.”

Related: Safeway to reassign 112 workers as troubled San Francisco store closes The company said it was “proud” of its 40-year history in the Fillmore but that the decision to close the store was made “due to ongoing concerns about associate and customer safety, as well as persistent issues with theft.” All employees will be assigned to other stores. Pharmacy customers can elect to have their files transferred to other stores, Safeway said.

San Francisco Police Department incident reports include complaints of frequent car break-ins, assaults, loitering and illegal dumping. The store’s self-checkout kiosks were removed last December in an effort to reduce theft.

“We remain committed to serving San Francisco at our 15 remaining locations, and to ensure that our unionized workforce can perform their jobs in safe and secure working environments,” Safeway said.

Rev. Erris Edgerly of the Fillmore United Alliance said there would be a community protest and boycott of Safeway starting on Dec. 23.

“It’s obvious the community has been struggling, but to just up and leave without calling a meeting, with no alternative for groceries, is upsetting,” he said. “There was no community outreach at all.”

He said the closure would impact the businesses in the neighborhood, as customers use the Safeway parking lot to shop at neighborhood stores as well as the supermarket.

“It’s going to make a big impact. I was hoping they would at least come to the table and say, ‘This is the issue, let’s work it out,’” he said.

Safeway is in contract to sell the property to Align Real Estate, which is proposing to build about 1,000 housing units along with retail space. It is unclear whether its bid to buy the property has closed; Align did not immediately respond to an inquiry on Tuesday.

Safeway said it is “actively working on a transition plan to ensure a smooth and secure closure of the store, while allowing for continued access and traffic flow to neighboring businesses.”

“These are difficult decisions we make as a business with more than 255 stores across Northern California, and we do not take it lightly,” the store said in a statement. “We appreciate the time and resources you’ve invested in trying to help us find a way to stay open, but unfortunately, the challenges we face are too great to overcome.”

In a statement, Breed said she was “saddened” by the announcement, saying the Safeway “has played a central role in bringing community together” in the neighborhood. She said she appreciated the company’s willingness to stay open an extra 11 months.

She said the city is committed to ensuring that “our residents and seniors continue to have access to healthy food, banking and pharmaceutical needs and will be working closely with the community, local businesses and commercial property owners to attract these vital services to existing storefront vacancies.”

She said older adults and people with disabilities could get transportation to other grocery stores through the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s paratransit programs.

Last month, the neighborhood’s supervisor, Dean Preston, urged Breed to start the process that would enable the city to use eminent domain to take control of the Safeway property, in order to redevelop it into affordable housing. Eminent domain is a law that allows the city to take private land for public use.

Preston has said that along with affordable housing, future redevelopment of the site should include a grocery store. His office issued a letter of inquiry that requested that Breed explore all options, including eminent domain, to acquire the property. Breed was required to respond by Dec. 3.

Breed’s office did not immediately respond to an inquiry from the Chronicle about the letter. A representative from Preston’s office confirmed Tuesday that Breed has not responded to the request, but added that city leadership could still pursue the eminent domain path, even if the property’s sale to Align Real Estate closes.

Preston said in a statement that closing the store “with no replacement is cruel.”

“I continue to believe that the best path forward to guarantee a future grocery store and affordable housing on this former redevelopment site is for the city to commence negotiations to acquire the site,” he said.