Nordstrom shutters flagship store in crime-riddled San Francisco: ‘A sad day’
August 28, 2023
Nordstrom’s flagship store in crime-riddled San Francisco closed its doors for the final time Sunday.Nordstrom’s flagship store in crime-plagued San Francisco closed its doors for the last time Sunday at a mall where fentanyl “zombies” now roam outside among drug dealers and thieves.
Dozens of shoppers were seen over the weekend perusing mostly barren aisles for mementos from the formerly posh department store — which once featured a five-star spa, champagne and caviar bar and live pianist — as cops patrolled outside.
“It’s a sad day,” a shopper named Julie told ABC 7 of the store, which was welcomed with much fanfare when it first opened on the corner of Market and Fifth streets at the San Francisco Centre mall 35 years ago.
“It’s a wonderful store. It’s been an anchor in San Francisco,” the shopper added of the Nordstrom’s, which had occupied 312,000 square feet on five floors at the mall.
Another customer, Denise Alexander, said, “It’s kind of depressing, being a native of San Francisco, just seeing how downtown is going away.”
Drug-addled homeless men were seen slumped over on the sidewalk outside the store Sunday before it shuttered.
One man struggled to get his footing as he held a small pipe and tried to pick up an unidentified drug off the cobblestone pathway in front of Nordstom’s doors.
“Yeah, that’s normal around here,” a shopper told The Post as she walked out of the mall.
Nearby on Market Street, a homeless man slept inside an excavator left by city workers, while around the San Francisco federal building, on government property, users smoked and shot up drugs.
“We’ve attracted so many people with mental illness and drug addiction because of [Mayor London Breed’s] policies because of things that I would like to call ‘toxic charity,’” Ricci Lee Wynne, a community activist who lives less than a mile from the San Francisco Centre, told The Post.
“We provide [the addicts] with paraphernalia, we provide them with free phones, we provide them with general assistance with almost no requirements for sobriety. It doesn’t make sense,” Wynne said. “Taxpayers’ money should not go to fuel these people’s drug habit.”
Dozens of shoppers roamed the mainly empty aisles of the 312,000-square-foot Nordstrom’s.
Nordstrom announced in May that it was closing the store and a nearby Nordstrom Rack because of declining sales, with Jamie Nordstrom — the company’s chief stores officer — noting “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.”
An employee at the store told ABC 7 that the closure is “definitely partially due to crime in the area — COVID-19 had a big impact.”
Law enforcement dispatch data obtained by the San Francisco Standard shows police regularly patrolled the Westfield mall over the past year as crime spiraled out of control.
Officers logged almost 560 “passing calls,” in which cops patrol the area to demonstrate a police presence, at the shopping center during the yearlong period ending May 1, 2023.
Frustrated locals said they are tired of seeing big-name stores disappear from the neighborhood while drug use and sales and homelessness thrive.
Wynne said he was attacked by drug dealers when he recently tried to film their operation on the corner of Market and Eighth streets.
During his daily walk Sunday, he pointed to tents blocking buildings that once housed restaurants, hotels and banks.
As he walked toward the San Francisco federal building, Wynne passed more than 40 homeless men and women who were openly dealing and doing drugs Sunday afternoon on federal government property.
Many of them had open lesions and scabs on their bodies — a possible side effect from mixing fentanyl with xylazine, more commonly known as “tranq,” which is a tranquilizer normally used on animals and known to transform users into “zombies.”
An elderly woman selling food and cigarettes sat a few feet away from the homeless men and women smoking and shooting up drugs on federal property.
Signs advertising the closing of a retail store are seen through a window display as many retailers move out of the area.
Wynne said some seniors who receive goods from the local food banks often resell the food to drug addicts for a cheaper price than what stores charge.
Less than a mile from the federal building, men gathered in front of a vacant building on 1128 Market St., where they were selling stolen goods from local shops, including shampoo, gum and clothes.
Meanwhile, Walgreens and other similar shops in the area have locked down most items in their stores — including chocolate bars, laundry soap and baby formula — because of the uptick in shoplifting.
A local store security guard told The Post at least five thefts happen where he works every day. Most of the thieves end up selling the goods near the vacant building on 1128 Market St., he said.
“I can’t use any force, so there’s nothing I can do,” said the guard, who wanted to remain anonymous. “In my eight-hour shift, we catch at least 15 people coming in and stealing, and it’s worse on weekends.
“We can’t prevent it, but all we can do is try to reduce the damage they are doing. Cops come when we call them, they take a description for 10 minutes, and then they leave,” he said. “Nothing helps. This is the reality of living and working here.”
Over a yearlong period ending in May, emergency dispatchers received reports of hundreds of potential crimes at the San Francisco Centre — including 118 petty thefts, 64 fights, 41 grand thefts and 24 burglaries.
The mall was owned by Westfield, but the company also pulled out of downtown, citing significant decreases in sales and lack of foot traffic. The mall has remained open with other stores like H&M and Bloomingdales, but losing another flagship store like Nordstrom is yet another blow to the struggling downtown business corridor.
Sales tax revenue for the South of Market, or SoMa, neighborhood where the mall is located has also seen a 25 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2019 to the first quarter of 2023.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed has said she is working on changing laws and reforming taxes to bring in more businesses.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed has talked about turning the mall into a soccer stadium.
After Nordstrom’s closure announcement in May, Breed held a news conference announcing increased funding for revitalization in the area.
Earlier this month, she also announced that the city is studying the idea of turning the Westfield-run mall into a soccer stadium.
“We know we need to combat the issues around crime and public safety and affordability and transportation,” she told the San Francisco Chronicle. “But I am optimistic about the future, because what we are seeing in San Francisco is something like nothing else before.
“We have the possibility to be whatever we want to be.”
But the rampant crime is not just limited to San Francisco, as police in Los Angeles have also reported months of violent smash-and-grab thefts.
Recently, dozens of shoplifters wearing hoodies and masks descended on another Nordstrom store in Topanga.
Police on Sunday patrol outside the San Francisco mall where its flagship Nordstrom’s store closed its doors for the last time.
Shocking surveillance video showed the robbers attack security guards with bear spray before running out of the store with luxury goods.
“Certainly, what happened in our Topanga store is disturbing to all of us,” Nordstrom said. “The safety of employees and customers is always a top priority. But the loss is a concern.”
The company reported “historical highs” in losses from shoplifting during an earnings call last week — echoing complaints recently made by other major retailers including Dick’s Sporting Goods, Ulta Beauty and Target.
The Nordstrom spanned five stories of the mall and was once its major attraction.
“I’d say we find it unacceptable, and [it] needs to be addressed,” an executive told investors after the retailer reported an 8.3% drop in sales in the second quarter ending July 29.
“That being said, while it’s unacceptable, it is within our plans,” the Nordstrom higher-up added. “We have not seen continuing rising of shrinkage that has exceeded what we planned.”
Nordstrom finance chief Catherine Smith added, “We continue to see a cautious consumer,” noting that sales slowed at both its eponymous stores and off-price Nordstrom Rack banner during the third quarter.
The company warned delinquencies could increase gradually.
“[Delinquencies] are now above pre-pandemic levels, which could result in higher credit losses in the second half and into 2024,” Smith said.
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