Seven Starbucks stores in San Francisco’s downtown area are planning to close as the city continues to deal with crime, drug use, and a homelessness epidemic.
The coffee company on Tuesday announced the locations of the stores which will shutter effective October 22 as part of an evaluation of the company’s portfolio.
‘Each year as a standard course of business, we evaluate the store portfolio to determine where we can best meet our community and customers’ needs,’ a Starbucks spokesperson told CNN.
The official said they are committed to San Francisco as a whole and added that they have opened three other stores in the area in the last six months.
Despite the apparent denial that the closures are connected to the city’s persistent issues, it’s just the latest in a string of recent major store shut downs in the Bay Area.
In August, the area’s flagship Nordstrom closed after three decades in business while other notable closings include Whole Foods, CB2, Anthropologie, and more.
Seven Starbucks stores in San Francisco’s downtown area are planning to close in October
The closures come as the city continues to experience crime, drug-use, a homeless epidemic
The seven locations closing on October 22 are identified below:
Mission Street and Main Street
Geary Street and Taylor Street
425 Battery St.
398 Market St.
4th Street and Market Street
555 California St.
Bush Street and Van Ness Avenue
In their statement, the Starbucks spokesperson said their dedication to San Francisco is not wavering despite the closures.
In addition to opening several new locations, the brand is constantly ‘identifying stores in need of investment or renovation,’ including four stores currently.
The investments are reported to cost $2.5 million.
‘We remain dedicated to investing in the City in meaningful and important ways that meet our partners and customers where they are – in the best way we know how,’ Jessica Borton, Starbucks’ regional VP for Northern California, said to CNN.
A company official also confirmed to SFGATE that all employees are being offered the opportunity to transfer to a different location.
‘We will continue to listen to the needs of our partners (employees) to ensure they can focus on crafting beverages and creating connections in a welcoming environment,’ an email sent to employees read.
‘I want to thank each of you for your leadership and support of our partners as we communicate this news,’ the email continued.
After the seven closures, 52 Starbucks remain in San Francisco.
In their statement, the Starbucks spokesperson said their dedication to San Francisco is not wavering despite the closures
A homeless woman is seen on the street in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District
A homeless woman moves her belongings after being approached by the San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team’s Encampment Resolution Team
In early August, John Chachas, the owner of local luxury furnisher Gump’s, paid for a full-page ad in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle to pen a scathing letter.
The ad, addressed to Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor London Breed accuses the politicians of dereliction of duty due to the city’s major and rampant issues.
Chachas, 59, also said if things continue on the current path, it could end up in the 166-year-old store’s doors closing forever.
Expressing a deep desire to not be the latest casualty of the so-called ‘retail apocalypse’ gripping the city, Cachas demanded Newsom and Breed immediately reassess their ‘failed public policies’, or face a future without his store.
‘Today, as we prepare for our 166th holiday season at 250 Post Street, we fear this may be our last because of the profound erosion of this city’s conditions,’ Chachas, who ran for US senate in Nevada as a Republican in 2010 but lost, wrote.
As for an explanation why, the Columbia and Harvard Business School grad said: ‘San Francisco now suffers from a “tyranny of the minority” – behavior and actions of the few that jeopardize the livelihood of the many.’
The investment banker – who acquired Gump’s following a Chapter 11 filing in 2018 – went on to explain how crime, homelessness, a lack of foot traffic, and lawlessness have plagued his store and others downtown after a long COVID shutdown.
San Francisco’s elected class, he said, has proved incapable of addressing the problem, thanks to policies that have allowed the homeless to run rampant.
Around the same time, the city’s flagship Nordstrom store closed amid the city’s rise in crime, homelessness, and public drug use.
Video taken by local media outlets showed the once vibrant store depleted of its merchandise and customers as it prepared to close its doors.
‘It’s half of the mall that is no longer going to be here. I do think it might change the businesses. You can already see it. It’s unfortunate,’ said a Nordstrom employee.
In early August, John Chachas, the owner of local luxury furnisher Gump’s, paid for a full-page ad in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle to pen a scathing letter about the city’s issues
Chachas said if things continue on the current path, it could end up in the 166-year-old store’s doors closing forever
This is the full ad that Chachas paid to run in the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco’s flagship Nordstrom closed after three decades in business in August
A map reveals the major businesses which have left, or have announced they are leaving, San Francisco in recent months. Retailers like Whole Foods, Anthropologie, Old Navy, AmazonGo, Saks Off Fifth, and Office Depot are among those taking part in the mass exodus
Other major closures include GAP, Saks 5th Avenue, Whole Foods, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Office Depot, Cinemark, Abercrombie and Fitch, and more.
The city has also suffered from the rise in remote working after the pandemic, which has decimated footfall in the financial district and Union Square areas.
Office vacancies reached a record high of 31 percent in May, enough space for 92,000 workers.
Content source – www.soundhealthandlastingwealth.com