San Francisco’s dying downtown suffers another hammer blow as Saks Fifth Avenue bans window shoppers from coming inside
San Francisco has suffered another setback as one of the city’s most luxurious department stores is banning window shoppers.
Saks Fifth Avenue in Union Square has decided to change the customer experience by switching to “appointment only” this summer, according to CROWN4.
Starting August 28, city residents must make an appointment in advance at the store at 384 Post Street.
According to a company spokesperson, customers can no longer just walk in and check out the luxury items.
This is because certain areas of San Francisco have become known for their poverty and misery, so much so that local businesses can no longer hire employees and residents feel forced to flee.
San Francisco has been dealt another blow as Saks Fifth Avenue, one of downtown’s most luxurious department stores, bans window shopping
Homeless people are seen as the city fights San Francisco’s fentanyl problem
The luxury clothing company says it is looking for “innovative ways to optimize the shopping experience to meet the changing expectations of luxury consumers.”
It follows on from the Saks Fifth Avenue stores in Palo Alto and Napa, which are already appointment-only stores in downtown San Francisco.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the layoffs are expected to affect employees at Saks Fifth Avenue in Union Square.
The number of employees affected is unknown.
The Saks Fifth Avenue Union Square store offers personal styling, alterations and complimentary in-store beauty services.
Customers are encouraged to make an appointment through the website.
“We look forward to providing our customers in San Francisco with this new experience,” a company spokesperson said.
According to KRON4, the Union Square store has decided to change its customer experience by switching to “appointment only” this summer.
A map shows which major companies have left San Francisco in recent months or announced plans to leave. Retailers like Whole Foods, Anthropologie, Old Navy, AmazonGo, Saks Off Fifth and now American Eagle are among those joining the mass exodus.
Crime and high homelessness rates persist in the famously progressive metropolis, especially in the surrounding downtown and nearby Mission District
In April, Mayor London N. Breed announced new voter-approved measures to improve public safety, particularly in the city’s hardest-hit neighborhoods.
The increase in the number of homeless people, now around 8,300, has also brought with it a whole host of other problems, such as many illegal drug dealers, fentanyl users and violent and intimidating behavior near the tent camps.
Prime locations such as Uniqlo, H&M, Rasputin Records and Lush once had branches, but they have all disappeared in a city centre plagued by crime, drugs and homelessness.
The retail vacancy is also evident on nearby streets: 22 of the 33 stores now stand empty in a three-block stretch of Powell Street, from Market Street to Union Square, an investigation by the SF Chronicle found.
In December 2022, a federal judge banned the city of San Francisco from clearing homeless tents, though the city was not prohibited from clearing encampments.
The judge ordered city officials to no longer ban homeless people from public campsites unless they are offered suitable indoor shelter.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed has announced that the city will take a “very aggressive” approach to removing the street encampments that have marred the city by the bay for the past four years.