Touchstone Climbing Has Apt Name For Outer Mission Location

Touchstone Climbing is one notch closer to opening its 19th location. It even has a name.

The rock climbing gym chain, which has two locations in San Francisco, first pitched the idea of opening a gym at the former Pacific Super supermarket to the community last July.

The Planning Commission approved the project late last month, granting a conditional use authorization and a permit that allows it to operate from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m.

“The community has spoken,” Touchstone Climbing’s Director of Marketing Heather Bellgreen said. “We're excited and proud to create a space for this community where they can come together, meet people, feel supported, and climb together.”

Many large storefronts are vacant across the neighborhood. The pending loss of many Walgreens stores in late February will only add to the number. The gym represents the adaptive re-use of a hard-to-fill large space.

Touchstone Climbing’s marketing team is working on a logo and other branding for the new gym and has settled on the name Aisle 19, inspired by both the supermarket’s history and it being their 19th gym.

While the project is in the early stages, the chain is currently working on cleaning up all of and demolishing some of the building's existing features. In addition, Bellegreen said, they are working to finalize the gym’s climbing wall designs and hope to have wall renderings later this year and hope to open by 2026.

The proposal for the space includes updating the façade to include a large window to open up the space.

The gym, like the change’s others, will be fully equipped with lockers, restrooms, climbing walls, yoga and fitness classrooms, weights and other workout equipment.

Touchstone Climbing plans to engage the surrounding community by hosting pop-ups with small businesses and hiring staff from the Outer Mission community.