Nordstrom closes all stores in San Francisco as bosses blame ‘changing city dynamics’

Nordstrom announced it would close all of its stores in San Francisco, blaming the city’s “altered dynamics,” which has seen countless major chains flip in the face of rising crime.

The retailer told employees it would not renew its leases at the Westfield Mall or at the Nordstrom Rack across the street. The mall location will close at the end of August and the Rack store will remain open until July 1, according to the Washington Post.

Jamie Nordstrom, Nordstrom’s chief stores officer, said the state of San Francisco has been blamed for reducing foot traffic “and our ability to operate successfully” in recent years.

Westfield Mall said in a statement to the Washington Post that the move was prompted by the “deteriorating situation in downtown San Francisco” leaving customers and staff unsafe.

The rampant crime in downtown San Francisco has led countless shopkeepers to throw up their hands and leave. In April, Whole Foods announced it was closing its locations, while Anthropologie and Office Depot also left. Remaining stores like Target have been reduced to locking up their entire inventory to deter shoplifters.

Whole Foods previously closed a flagship store in downtown San Francisco

Jamie Nordstrom, Nordstrom’s chief stores officer, confirmed plans to close stores in San Francisco

“These kinds of decisions are never easy, and this one was particularly difficult,” Nordstrom wrote in his email.

“However, as many of you know, the dynamics of the downtown San Francisco market have changed dramatically in recent years, impacting customer foot traffic to our stores and our ability to operate successfully.”

Westfield Mall was much more blunt in its statement to the Washington Post, pointing directly to the rising crime rate running out-of-town businesses, which it refers to as “unsafe conditions for customers, retailers and employees.”

The mall said “these major issues are impeding an economic recovery for the area.”

Nordstrom joins the growing list of stores that have left the coastal city, including H&M, Marshall’s, Gap and Banana Republic.

Despite official reports that San Francisco’s crime rate is on the decline, a former district attorney said this month that the city’s liberal district attorney’s decision not to prosecute many crimes skewed those numbers.

Gap was the first to announce its departure in August 2020, followed shortly by H&M and Marshall’s. As the years progressed, more and more stores slowly retreated.

The Market Street Anthropologie will close on May 13, the San Francisco Chronicle. As a result, the store will no longer have a location in the city.

Office Depot, located on Third Street, will also close, but the exact closing date is unknown. The store has a larger store on Geary Boulevard, which will not close.

The Market Street Anthropologie (pictured) will close its doors on May 13

Office Depot, located on Third Street, (pictured) is also set to close, but the exact closing date is unknown

Downtown San Francisco has had a hard time bouncing back from the pandemic, as shoppers have not returned en masse to the once-popular retail location.

San Francisco as a whole is struggling to recover as the city’s residents continue to battle a crime epidemic, most recently brought to light with the murder of Cash App CEO Bob Lee and the brutal broad daylight attack on the former fire commissioner of the city.

While crime is down nearly eight percent compared to the same time last year, stores have started locking up merchandise.

A Target store in San Francisco has put its entire assortment under lock and key.

A video posted to TikTok on April 20 shows all the items locked up for customers.

According to geotagged images, some products at the Folsom Street store had been behind glass since at least October last year, WNCT reported.

A Target location in San Francisco has been forced to put its inventory behind the classroom to deter shoplifting

Organic food giant Whole Foods opened a new “flagship” location on Trinity Place in the city’s Tenderloin District in March 2022, hoping to revive visitor numbers after two years of draconian COVID-19 restrictions that have placed businesses in severely affected the area.

But a Whole Foods spokesperson declared the store closed last night due to staff safety concerns. “We are closing only our Trinity location for now,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “If we feel we can ensure the safety of our team members in store, we will evaluate a reopening of our Trinity location.”

That’s what a source at City Hall told me The San Francisco standard the company cited deteriorating street conditions surrounding drug use and crime near the store as the driving factors behind the closure.

Industry groups have noted the problem with theft, with the National Retail Federation saying organized retail crime is costing stores about $100 billion a year, according to a survey of 2022.

In 2021, retailers saw a 27 percent increase in theft by organized crime gangs, the study found. To address the problem, they invested more money in safety and security measures to protect employees, customers and assets.

Although crime has decreased, compared to the same time last night, shops have started to lock up merchandise and pack their bags to avoid the rampant crime