San Francisco Collapse: More Store Closures, Lawlessness, Drugs, Homeless
San Francisco Collapse: More Store Closures, Lawlessness, Drugs, Homeless
‘If anybody believes that crimes are down and San Francisco is safe, I have a bridge in San Francisco to sell to them’
By Katy Grimes, May 11, 2023
“After repeated break-in attempts over the last year, and more broken windows than we can count, we recently made the tough decision to close down the High Road Bike Shop,” reads the message of the electric bike store’s website. “We are currently selling all of our existing inventory at 30%-50% off.”
Another retail outlet closes in San Francisco. And San Francisco’s office vacancy rate is 30%.
“Before High Road Bike Co. opened there, it was Acote. It also closed due to theft,” a San Francisco friend told the Globe Wednesday. Acote was a French clothing store.
“Across the street, consumer tech store B8ta closed indefinitely after staff were robbed at gunpoint in February,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported in 2021.
And now, in the same location, the Hayes Valley bike shop closes after rain and crime, but owner is ‘not giving up on S.F’ the Chronicle reports.
“Months of rain, an overall economic downturn, and repeated break-in attempts ultimately led to the decision to close the shop,” said owner Chris Callaway. There were “more broken windows than we can count” at the store at 597 Hayes St., he said.
“Crime was a factor, but Callaway believes months of storms depressing customer traffic sealed the store’s fate.”
The Globe just reported that T-Mobile’s flagship store at 1 Stockton Street and Williams-Sonoma at 340 Post will be closing soon.
The Globe reported:
Walgreens has closed more and more stores in the city due to the massive amount of crime within its stores. Higher-end stores like Cotopaxi have also cited break-ins and crime as major reasons for leaving. And just within the last two months, all Amazon Go stores, Anthropologie, several high-end Union square stores, and the flagship Whole Foods store have all announced that their doors will be closing, along with multiple non-chain stores throughout the city. Less than a week ago, both Nordstrom and Saks Off 5th announced the closure of 3 main locations in the city.
This is so sad, and so avoidable. And residents want to know why Mayor London Breed, the City Council and County Board of Supervisors are allowing the city to degenerate and collapse. San Francisco is plagued by lawlessness, violent crime, homelessness, open drug use and the police budget was cut more than $120 million in 2020. The mayor made the announcement that the $120 million would be spent “addressing disparities in the Black community.”
How did that work out? And where exactly did $120 million go?
Our San Francisco friend also reported how homeless have been ripping off Whole Foods:
“I have been shopping at Whole Foods on Franklin and California since the one on Market and 8th closed. I had never seen any homeless in this Pacific Heights Whole Foods before. But, now, whenever I go there, I see homeless people hanging out in the upper parking lot on Franklin and California and also inside the store. Recently, I saw them at the hot food station using their hands to pick up food and walking away with liquors.”
Here someone posted about it on Twitter:
I got a jolt at the Pac Height Whole Foods Sat when a junkie brushed past me, grabbed a bottle of whisky, and breezed out of the store. An employee and security guard were five feet away. “That guy just stole some alcohol!”, I said. “We know”, they said, doing nothing.
The other Whole Foods announced its closure in April. Our friend explained:
“I have been patronizing Whole Foods on Market and 8th street 3-4 times a week since its opening in March 2022 and become well-acquainted with their store staff, security guards, and their regular patrons (the paying ones and the free loaders).
Whenever I was in the store, I always witnessed brazen shoplifting and verbal and physical abuses on the store employees which led the store to cut its operating hours.
One time, I witnessed a drug overdose in the store’s restroom which led the store to require a receipt of proof-of-purchase for their customers to access the restroom.”
“If anybody believes that crimes are down and San Francisco is safe, I have a bridge in San Francisco to sell to them.”
