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    Business and Economy Commentary

    San Francisco Loses another Famous Business as Crime Takes Constant Toll

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    With Nordstrom gone, hotels going out of business, and residents fleeing, AT&T just followed its rival T-Mobile in leaving San Francisco. In fact, the telecommunications giant just announced that it will shutter its famous flagship store in downtown San Francisco on April 1, moving out of the famous baroque building it took over from Bank of America in 2016.

    Announcing the move on Thursday of last week, AT&T spokesperson Chris Collins said, “Consumer shopping habits continue to change, and we’re changing with them. That means serving customers where they are through the right mix of retail stores, digital channels and our phone-based care team.”

    Continuing, Collins went on to add that AT&T will offer jobs to retail employees farther out in the city and that the company will continue to invest in the city’s wireless infrastructure. In his words: “We are proud of our continued presence in the community, not only through our retail stores and our local investment in world-class connectivity with our 5G and fiber networks. All retail employees affected by this change will be offered jobs at one of our other many retail locations within the city.”

    Here is what the store looked like before it closed:

    The store had been, when San Francisco was a functional city, able to thrive thanks to its prominent location and proximity to the nearby public transit systems, and the huge space was able to hold a variety of phones, tablets, and other gadgets to sell with its network plans.

    That all fell apart when San Francisco went from being a glittering city of the West Coast to a crime-ridden hell hole known more for homeless people and drug addicts than anything pleasant. That has devastated retail businesses in the city. Recently, the mall company Westfield said it would turn over its downtown mall, Westfield San Francisco Centre, back to its lender. Explaining why it has to do so, Westfield cited “challenging operating conditions in downtown San Francisco, which have led to declines in sales, occupancy and foot traffic.”

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    Similarly to AT&T’s closure announcement, a flagship Whole Foods in San Francisco had to close recently. In a statement to the San Francisco Standard, a Whole Foods spokesperson said, “We are closing our Trinity location only for the time being. If we feel we can ensure the safety of our team members in the store, we will evaluate a reopening of our Trinity location.”
    According to a City Hall spokesperson, drug use and criminal activity from individuals loitering near the store were the reasons that the Whole Foods flagship store had to close. Further, remote work and people having left the city during lockdowns created a problem for businesses in the downtown district, as far fewer people were there to patronize them when lockdowns ended. That then, even outside of the serious crime problem, created a “doom loop.” What businesses remained had to close, thus taking away even more traffic from the surviving businesses and leading, in turn, to more business closures in the area.
    Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video