Nearly six years after Mission Local first reported that the Richmond District’s Cinderella Bakery intended to open up in the vacated La Victoria Bakery spot in the Mission District, the Russian bakery will finally start serving its piroshkis, borscht and pelmenis: Cinderella will open on 24th Street by the end of the year, according to its owner.

“We’re very excited to be part of the community,” said Mike Fishman, who co-owns Cinderella Bakery with his wife, Marika Fishman. He did not give a specific opening date, but said the business is in the final stages of permitting. “We look forward to being a positive addition to the neighborhood.”

For more than 70 years, Cinderella has been serving Russian goods to San Franciscans at 436 Balboa St. in the Inner Richmond. In 2017, the bakery was recognized as a legacy business. It has been in the Richmond since 1953.

The road from the Richmond District to the Mission proved far more complex than a 20-minute bus ride on the 33-Ashbury bus, however. In November 2018, Fishman bought the building at 2937 24th St. for about $3 million, hoping to open up a Cinderella Bakery where La Victoria, a neighborhood institution that had operated since 1951, had recently closed.

In its final years, La Victoria got caught up in a family feud. Jaime Maldonado, who had taken over the business from his father, Gabriel Maldonado, and who was the master tenant of the space, served an eviction notice to the subtenants whom he had hired to operate La Victoria. He did so to comply with a lawsuit settlement with the person controlling the family’s trust, his stepmother, Susan Maldonado.

La Victoria vacated in October of 2018. Fishman bought it the following month.

Fishman’s intention to replace Mexican baked goods with Russian pastries was met with resistance from some Mission activists, who demanded the new owner let La Victoria return to its home of 68 years.

One of the loudest voices in opposition was Calle 24, which called for a boycott of the new business through its president, Erick Arguello.

Arguello has since changed his tune. “I don’t want to look back,” he said on Monday, declining to elaborate on the previous resistance. “I just want to look forward. Everything is fine. … The important thing is that they’ve integrated into the community.”

The two other businesses in the building, Texas Jewelry and Gemini Barber, which have been there since Fishman bought the property, will be able to stay, he said.

Arguello said the business adhered to conditional use requirements for new businesses in the 24th Street Cultural District, one of 10 such districts across the city. The 24th Street district covers the stretch from Mission Street to Potrero Avenue.

Each of San Francisco’s cultural districts has its own set of conditions. For 24th Street, those mandates apply to any new businesses occupying a space formerly held by a legacy business, or seeking a change of use. Those businesses must adopt at least four out of six conditions that seek to “preserve the prevailing neighborhood character” of the area, like having partnerships with local groups or supporting the “production or offerings of local or Latino artwork.”

Cinderella Bakery accepted more than four of those conditions, Arguello said.

Fishman said he hired Precita Eyes to paint a mural on the Alabama Street side of the business. He will also relocate employees who are currently working in the Richmond District but live closer to the 24th Street location. This will ease their commute. He’ll open the space for local art shows and exhibits, he added.

“I’m a man of my word,” he said. “We’re going to honor that.”

Fishman has no plans of closing the Richmond District location, and said the menu at the Mission outpost will stay the same as the original Cinderella.