Beset by rising crime and fewer shoppers on once-busy city streets, major retailers are leaving their broken hearts in downtown San Francisco.
At least 22 big-name businesses have closed or announced plans to flee the area around San Francisco’s Union Square since January 2022, including trendy retailers like Anthropologie, Banana Republic and Crate & Barrel, as well as the investment firm that owns two of the city’s biggest hotels.
Since 2019, 47% of businesses in the area have closed, according to the San Francisco Standard.
Some 203 retailers were operating in and around Union Square pre-Covid; as of May, only 107 were left.
The commercial chaos will continue in coming weeks, with brands like AT&T, Nordstrom, Coco Republic and Old Navy shuttering more shops as soon as July 1.
The most significant casualty — the Westfield San Francisco Centre — came last week as the mall’s operator cited “challenging” conditions downtown, including sagging sales and occupancy rates, for its looming exodus.
Westfield stopped making payments on its $558 million loan for the 1.2-million-square-foot Market Street retail hub and began transferring control this month, as first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
The mall’s exit is the latest in a series of setbacks in the shopping district, where Nordstrom will shutter two stores — an anchor in the mall as well as a Nordstrom Rack across the street — this summer, slashing nearly 400 jobs. --->READ MORE HERE
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| Fox News |
Whole Foods in San Francisco closed after being open barely a year due to safety concerns
One grocery chain is fighting to keep stores open despite rampant shoplifting and an uptick in violence that is forcing many retailers to leave major cities across the country.
Giant Food, which operates 165 supermarkets in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia and Delaware, has taken measures to combat theft and keep stores safe, according to a report in the Washington Post. The steps include limiting store entrances, hiring security guards, restricting the number of items at self-checkout stands, putting fewer high-value items on shelves and securing razor blades in containers that make noise if opened.
Company President Ira Kress said he's seen theft rise at least "tenfold in the last five years" and violence increase "exponentially."
He hopes these measures will help keep stores open, even if they inconvenience shoppers.
"The alternative is worse for customers," he told the outlet. "The last thing I want to do is close stores. But I’ve got to be able to run them safely and profitably."
Several large retailers like Walgreens, Nordstrom and Whole Foods have had to close stores in some cities due to increased shoplifting and safety concerns.
Fears of violent reactions from shoplifters have also changed some companies' policies over the years.
"We used to chase shoplifters," Kress said, "and you’d get the product back, and nobody would ever fight you. … I didn’t worry about somebody pulling a knife or gun on me [40] years ago," he told the Post.
A former worker at the recently closed Whole Foods in downtown San Francisco also said in the report that they had taken measures to combat shoplifting, like moving high-end merchandise to the back of the store.--->READ MORE HERE
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