It was a year ago that we announced we would be relocating our Market Street store after serving San Francisco for 38 years. When the news first broke, the outpouring of media attention and concern from our loyal and long time customers made it apparent that we have earned a special place in the hearts of the artists and creative types who make this City great. It has been an honor to serve this community, and it is with great excitement that we announce the new location of our Flagship Store.

The Flax Market Street store will be moving just 12 miles away to 1501 Martin Luther King Junior Way in Downtown Oakland. This will be a return to Oakland for the FLAX family which operated an art supply store in Oakland in the 1950's alongside our first San Francisco store which opened its doors in 1938. Our soft opening is scheduled for March 21st and we are already making plans for a Grand Opening Celebration on April 2nd!   For continuing updates and info click here

In Oakland, we will occupy a 14,500 square foot warehouse, formerly an automotive repair shop and indoor soccer facility. Built in the 1922, the building retains many of its original art-deco architectural features.

It was important for us to find a location that had both plenty of parking and easy transit access. Our new location has terrific access off the freeway and it is only an 8 minute walk from either the 12 ^th or 19 ^th Street BART Stations. We will have plenty of free parking with a 23-space parking lot. With its centralized location, 2 blocks away from City Hall, we look forward to serving the families and local arts and cultural organizations in the Oakland downtown core as we continue to invite artistically minded people from all over the greater Bay Area.

Along with our extensive product range, a great number of our talented and knowledgeable staff will be relocating to the new location so that one can expect all the familiar art supplies and friendly faces that make FLAX a truly unique place to shop. It will be a new and exciting adventure for us all!

For those customers who wish to continue shopping with FLAX in San Francisco, we have not left the City. In fact, our  new store just 3 miles away in Fort Mason Center has been a huge hit! Our popular  workshops are up and running and it has been a pleasure to join the already vibrant community of arts and culture organizations located in this beautiful and historic site. As City College classes get underway, we look forward to serving art students in this location for many years to come. We continue to build and improve our online store,  flaxart.com, as we strive to provide quality art supplies to FLAX customers across the country.

The doors to our Market Street store will stay open through the move, right up until opening day in Oakland towards the end of March. In the meantime, please stop by to take advantage of our many savings and sales going on now!

Your continued support has meant a great deal to us. FLAX is a third-generation run family business that has been serving the creative community in the Bay Area since 1938. Many of our customers have become close friends over the years and we hope to continue these relationships as well as forge new connections in this next exciting phase of our 78 year history.

Media Coverage Links:

SF Gate, Longtime Market Street art supply store Flax moving to Oakland, By J.K. Dineen Updated 7:43 pm, Tuesday, January 5, 2016

San Francisco Magazine, Flax Art & Design, Like the Artists It Serves, Is Decamping to Oakland, By Joe Eskenazi, Monday, January 4, 2016

San Jose Mercury News, Flax Art moving from San Francisco to Oakland, By Matthew Artz, Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Hoodline, Goodbye, Flax: Art Supply Store Moving To Oakland , By Nuala Sawyer, January 4, 2016

San Francisco Business Times (Blog), Oakland scores another S.F. stalwart, By Riley McDermid, Updated January 5, 2016

East Bay Express, Flax, San Francisco Art Supply Fixture, to Move to Oakland, By Sarah Burke, Tuesday January 5, 2016

Hoodline's continuing coverage, Flax Continues Search for New Location, Will Relocate in 2016, by Rose Garrett, January 6, 2015

ABC7 News, New Legislation is Trying to Protect Old Businesses from SF Real Estate Boom, October 13, 2014

NBC Bay Area news segment, Longtime San Francisco Art Store Faces Tough Search for New Home, by Joe Rosato Jr., July 23, 2014

Golden City, Golden City Stories: Flax Art & Design (rough edit), August 15, 2014. Part of a feature-length documentary about how the tech industry is reshaping housing and transportation in San Francisco.

SF Chronicle, Flax art store draws notice to move; condos planned, by J.K. Dineen, May 9, 2014

Related FLAX blog posts:

We Are Relocating, in 2016 - Posted by Howard Flax on January 04, 2015

A New FLAX Store in Fort Mason Center - Posted by Flax on August 31, 2015