Starbucks will shutter seven downtown locations in crime-battered San Francisco — the latest high-profile company to close outposts amid an overall deterioration in the quality of life.
The closures come amid a shocking survey that found roughly 97% of San Francisco’s restaurants have experienced graffiti or property crime in the past month.
However, the Seattle-based java giant avoided blaming the rampant lawlessness for its decision to close the downtown shops.
“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 The Post on Wednesday.
“This includes opening new locations, identifying stores in need of investment or renovation, exploring locations where an alternative format is needed and, in some instances, re-evaluating our footprint.”
Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in the spring of 2020, some 40 retail stores have ditched the once-bustling Union Square section of downtown San Francisco — in addition to the dozens of others that have pulled up stakes from surrounding regions of the city.
Nordstrom, CB2, Anthropologie, Whole Foods, Old Navy, Saks Off 5th, Office Depot, Athleta, Abercrombie & Fitch, Disney, Marshall’s, H&M, and Gap have either closed stores within San Francisco city limits or announced plans to do so.
San Francisco, which built its economy around the technology sector, has yet to recover from the missing foot traffic and exodus of young people who either left the city or continued working remotely — dealing a devastating blow to retail shops reliant on commuters for business.
The city’s office vacancy rate stood at around 30% as of last month while the population shrank by 40,000 residents.
Moody’s lowered San Francisco’s credit rating outlook to negative as the city faces a $780 million budget shortfall caused by declining tax revenues.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed said efforts are underway to revitalize downtown in hopes of attracting companies and workers to vacant offices.
The Starbucks spokesperson noted the company opened three new locations in downtown San Francisco within the last half year.
It has also spent $2.5 million renovating four other Starbucks locations, according to the spokesperson.
“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 vice president for Northern California, wrote in an internal memo.
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