Amateur video which shows abandoned retail shops that line a main drag of one of downtown San Francisco’s commercial hubs has gone viral as the City by the Bay continues to reel from soaring levels of crime as well as a sharp decline in quality of life.
A social media user posted video on Reddit which shows a recent drive along Powell Street in the Union Square section of downtown.
“Was headed to the gym and happened to notice that almost every other retail store is vacant!” the Reddit user posted on the site on Wednesday.
“I swear this was not the case pre pandemic.”
The Reddit user added: “Makes me kind of sad seeing the city like this. Meanwhile rents are still sky high…”
The video appears to have been filmed during midday while the driver was traveling northbound on Powell Street toward the corner with O’Farrell Street.
Since 2020, at least 26 stores have closed up shop in downtown San Francisco.
An additional seven stores are expected to shut down in the near future.
Several top retailers have either announced they are leaving or have recently shut down their stores in Union Square, including Saks Off 5th, T-Mobile and Nordstrom, which is shuttering two stores in the area.
Walgreens, Target, Old Navy and other downtown merchants have complained about brazen shoplifting.
Whole Foods recently announced it would temporarily shutter a downtown location, citing employee safety.
Last month, San Francisco’s district attorney released surveillance video showing the fatal shooting of a suspected shoplifter by an on-duty Walgreens security guard, along with other footage and documents that she said support her decision not to file charges against the guard.
The overall commercial retail vacancy rate in Union Square went up to 15.5% in the first quarter of this year — up from 14.2% in the last quarter of 2022, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“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,” Jamie Nordstrom, the chief stores officer at Nordstrom, said in a statement cited by the LA Times.
Saks Off 5th said its decision to abandon its Market Street location was due to “store performance and other factors.”
T-Mobile recently left its Stockton Street locations because of what the company said was its “nationwide retail strategy to better take care of customers.”
Experts blame the retail exodus on a combination of factors including a surge in retail theft, soaring inflation, a decline in consumer spending, disruptions in the supply chain and high operating costs.
Overall, retail vacancy in San Francisco rose from 5.2% a year ago to 6% in the first quarter of this year — the highest since 2006, according to commercial real estate services firm Cushman and Wakefield.
With Post wires
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