The independent natural-foods market at 598 Castro St. is shutting down after half a century, its owners citing financial strain, according to SFGATE.

Buffalo Whole Food & Grain Company, the independent natural-foods market that has anchored the corner of Castro and 19th streets since 1975, is closing after 51 years, according to SFGATE, which reported that closure notices went up in the store's windows earlier this week.

The shop sits at 598 Castro St., in the heart of the neighborhood's commercial strip, and City business records list it there under the Buffalo Whole Food & Grain name. For half a century it has run as a small, family-owned counterpoint to the chain grocers — organic produce, supplements and natural cosmetics up front, and a deep bench of gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian goods for a neighborhood that shopped there for decades.

SFGATE identified the owners as brothers Said and Hisham Bsisso, whose father, Sami Bsisso, ran the store for years. The outlet reported that the family cited financial strain in announcing the closure; in its message to customers, the store thanked them for "standing with a small, family-owned store that has been here for generations." An exact last day has not been reported.

What the block loses is also a piece of its visual history. The building's 19th Street wall carries "The Laughing Gorilla," a mural the late artist David Seibold painted in 1990, its imagery shaped by the AIDS crisis and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Neighbors raised money to restore it in 2019, and the Bay Area Reporter has documented its place in Castro lore. The mural belongs to the building, not the business, and its fate once the store goes dark is unclear.

Buffalo's closing lands in a year that has already thinned San Francisco's independent grocery ranks. It is one more small, owner-run room in the Castro — the kind that outlasts trends but not the math — going quiet.