Luxury retailer Nordstrom plans to close both of its downtown San Francisco stores because of dramatic changes in the area in the past few years, according to the company.
Jamie Nordstrom, chief stores officer of the brand, reportedly wrote to staff on May 2 announcing the company’s decision to not renew leases at the San Francisco Centre Nordstrom store and the Market Street Rack store.
“We’ve spent more than 35 years serving customers in downtown San Francisco, building relationships with them and investing in the local community,” Nordstrom wrote in the letter. “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 company will look closely at other opportunities in the region and will better serve customers by focusing on 16 nearby Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack locations, as well as online, according to the letter.
“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,” a spokesperson for Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield said in a statement.
“[Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield] has actively engaged with city leaders for many years to express our serious concerns, which are shared by our customers and retailers. We have urged the city to find solutions to the key issues and lack of enforcement against rampant criminal activity.”
Nordstrom has 20 new Rack store openings planned this year with more coming in 2024. The company recently announced a new Nordstrom Rack store in Pinole, California, and a remodeling of the Valley Fair Nordstrom store in San Jose, California.
The closures are unfortunate, Daniel Herzstein, director of public policy at the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, told The Epoch Times.
“San Francisco has really been struggling, especially downtown,” Herzstein said.
Nordstrom’s decision follows announcements from other big-name retail chains that have recently decided to leave the city.
“These store closings are a major bump in the road to bringing back downtown,” Herzstein said. “Right now, we have a once-in-generation opportunity to revitalize our City, and we can’t afford to ignore the public safety and quality of life issues on our streets. We need aggressive investments to make downtown safe, clean, and welcoming to all, and we need them now.”
The news of Nordstrom’s closures comes days after a security guard shot and killed a shoplifter at a Walgreens on Market Street. The security guard was arrested after the April 27 incident but San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins decided to not press charges.
“We ultimately did not believe we could prove beyond a reasonable doubt here that the security guard had committed murder or any other crime,” Jenkins said in a May 1 video statement.
Former San Francisco County Supervisor Tony Hall said Nordstrom’s decision wasn’t a surprise.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all, because of the crime and the shoplifting,” Hall told The Epoch Times. “It’s outright thievery that goes on in the chain stores in San Francisco. I’ve seen this firsthand with my own eyes.
The city is “completely out of control right now.”
Groups of out-of-town youth enter stores in the city and take merchandise and walk out, without fear of being arrested or stopped in any way, he said.
“The only way out is a change of administration—a change in the culture of government that is governing in San Francisco,” Hall said.
Requests for comment from Nordstrom weren’t returned before press time.
