Nordstrom, the Seattle-based department store chain, has announced the closure of its two San Francisco stores in the coming months, citing unfavorable business conditions in the city. The announcement comes in the wake of many of high-profile companies leaving the area entirely due to a rise in crime and homelessness in the Democrat run city.
The company’s Westfield San Francisco Centre location is set to close in August, while its smaller store across the street is slated to shut down on July 1st. These closures mark a significant departure for Nordstrom, which has operated in San Francisco for over three decades.
In a message obtained by the San Francisco Business Times, Jamie Nordstrom, the company’s chief stores officer, explained that the decision to close the stores was difficult, but necessary due to the changing market dynamics in downtown San Francisco. The company has been impacted by declining customer foot traffic and difficulty operating successfully.
San Francisco has experienced a marked decrease in arrests over the past few years. This has been attributed in part to calls from officials, including San Francisco Mayor London Breed, to defund law enforcement. Furthermore, the downtown area has suffered from declining foot traffic in the years since government lockdowns due to the pandemic sequestered employees in their homes and apartments.
Despite the closure of the downtown San Francisco stores, Nordstrom plans to substantially increase the number of locations elsewhere in the broader Bay Area. The company spokesperson stated that the decision to close these stores is not a reflection of Nordstrom’s broader commitment to the Bay Area market.
The Westfield San Francisco Centre store had been in operation since 1988, while the smaller store across the street had been open since 2014. A spokesperson for the mall indicated that mall executives had voiced their concerns about the “deteriorating situation in downtown San Francisco” to city leadership.
This announcement comes as yet another blow to San Francisco. The closures of the two Nordstrom stores underscore the challenges that businesses face in the city, including high costs of operation, a rise in crime, and homelessness. Democrats have been in charge of San Francisco for decades.
