The shopping mall was a stalwart of the 80s and 90s, providing shopping, entertainment, and family fun in one convenient trip. The sprawling suburban mall has taken a hit in popularity in recent years, with shoppers and high-end retailers instead heading downtown to revitalized areas in many major cities. Unfortunately, in some cities in Democrat-controlled areas, crime has become such an issue that retailers are leaving rather than continuing to face losses.
One such city is San Francisco. Once considered one of the crown jewels of America, bad policy and Democrat leadership have all but ruined the City By The Bay. The open-air drug use, human feces on the streets, and refusal by state and city leaders to do anything about it have left empty storefronts in one of the most famous shopping areas in America.
The legendary San Francisco Centre has been losing tenant after tenant and now stands at a scant 25% occupancy. Now, as 2024 is underway, it is getting worse. The Mall is set to lose its fifth store this month alone as high-end clothing brand Madewell announced they will be closing their Union Square mall store this month.
Madewell’s sister brand, J. Crew, also announced they would leave the mall on January 22nd. They will join shoe sellers Aldo and Lucky Brand denim, both also closing in January. The largest retailer, Nordstrom, left the massive mall last year, and the dominos have fallen steadily since. Hollister, the Lego Store, and Cinemark theaters followed Nordstrom late last year.
The mall owners, Westfield and Brookfield, stopped making their mortgage payments last year, citing low foot traffic and slumping sales. They released a statement: “For more than 20 years, Westfield has proudly and successfully operated San Francisco Centre, investing significantly over that time in the vitality of the property. Given the challenging operating conditions in downtown San Francisco, which have led to declines in sales, occupancy and foot traffic, we have made the difficult decision to begin the process to transfer management of the shopping center to our lender to allow them to appoint a receiver to operate the property going forward.”
It appears to be the beginning of the end for the mall. San Francisco Mayor London Breed has proposed building a soccer stadium on the site and even has met with architects about the feasibility. However, it also raises questions. If shoppers won’t use the mall because of crime, drugs, and lawlessness, why would people come to the same crime-infested area for a soccer game?
It appears that the city is in no hurry to clean up the streets unless, of course, the Chinese president is in town. The downtown area of San Francisco is one of the most expensive in America, but if you can’t be guaranteed safe passage, who would go there to spend money? Apparently, no one considering the mall is dying, the owners saw no way out besides defaulting, and the city and state won’t clean up things downtown.
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It is a sad state of affairs in San Francisco. Perhaps new leadership can clean up the city and restore it to its former greatness. Or perhaps the Democrats will continue to run the city and state into the ground. For retailers, they aren’t waiting around to find out.
Watch the famous Nordstrom at Westfield Mall close here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video