SHOPPERS in San Francisco have just weeks left to take advantage of liquidation sales at Nordstrom as the flagship store prepares to close for good.
The retailer, which is located at the Westfield San Francisco Centre, announced it would be one of several store shutdowns taking place across the city back in May.
As its lease ends this month, Nordstrom shoppers have only until the close of business on Sunday, August 27 to grab any final deals.
"We’ve spent more than 35 years serving customers in downtown San Francisco, building relationships with them and investing in the local community," chief stores officer Jamie Nordstrom said in a memo to employees at the time the closure was announced.
"But as many of you know, the dynamics of the downtown San Francisco market have changed dramatically over the past several years, impacting customer foot traffic to our stores and our ability to operate successfully."
The nearby Nordstrom Rack, which offers even more discounted prices on designer brands, also shuttered in July as San Francisco retailers struggled to stay afloat due to high crime and changing market dynamics.
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That means roughly around 357,500 square feet of retail space is now available for a new tenant to take over, according to the San Francisco Business Times.
The closures also meant that an estimated 379 employees will be laid off, Fox Business reported.
While the closure marks the end of Nordstrom’s time in the major California city, the company is still plotting growth across the rest of the state.
Five new Nordstrom Rack locations are set to open in 2024 and 2025, including one in nearby San Mateo.
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TROUBLE IN SAN FRANCISCO
While Nordstrom has set its sights on additional growth in California, it’s unlikely to return to San Francisco any time soon.
Despite being a large city, rampant retail crime has threatened brick-and-mortar stores’ success in the area as employees deal with unsafe working conditions and customers prefer online shopping.
Westfield’s owner Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield said Nordstrom’s departure "underscores the deteriorating situation in Downtown San Francisco."
"A growing number of retailers and businesses are leaving the area due to the unsafe conditions for customers, retailers, and employees, coupled with the fact that these significant issues are preventing an economic recovery of the area," the company said in a statement to The San Francisco Standard.
From May 2022 to May 2023, police were an ever-present force at Westfield.
In total, the city experienced 118 petty theft incidents, 64 fights, 41 grand thefts, and 24 burglaries over the same time period.
The crime ticked up at the same time the pandemic hit, and shoppers naturally reeled in their spending and relied on online shopping services.
As conditions worsened, other retailers including Office Depot, Anthropologie, and Saks Off 5th also closed their doors for good.
Even popular grocer Whole Foods Market shut down its store temporarily this year, citing worker safety.
Employees were threatened with guns, knives, and sticks, according to a report by The New York Times.
But the full list of 17 stores fleeing San Francisco includes H&M, Gap, Disney, Abercrombie and Fitch, The Container Store, and more, according to Business Insider.
Meanwhile, the Standard reported that at Westfield alone, a whopping 46 percent of the mall’s 97 retailers that existed before the pandemic had shuttered completely by this year.
While 21 new stores have worked to replace the 45 stores that left, shoppers are consistently greeted by vacant storefronts and increasing crime.
Cafes and diners have also been impacted by the widespread crime in San Francisco.
HRD Coffee Shop, a San Francisco restaurant that first opened in 1953, abruptly closed at the end of June.
"In the end, we just couldn't keep the doors open because of the lack of support from the city and the landlord,” the store’s owner Sydney Saidyan told The Standard.
"Unfortunately, the city does not see us as a partner."
Anchor Brewing, the country’s first craft brewery which also happens to be located in San Francisco, also shut its doors for good this summer.
Executives at the company attributed the closing to "a combination of challenging economic factors and declining sales since 2016," according to a press release.
"This was an extremely difficult decision that Anchor reached only after many months of careful evaluation," said Sam Singer, an Anchor Brewing spokesperson.
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A legendary Vietnamese restaurant is also closing its doors after 36 years of serving San Francisco residents.
In other retail news, The U.S. Sun spoke with a business expert who revealed the true reasons for the ongoing retail apocalypse.
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