‘Retail Apocalypse’ San Francisco’s flagship Nordstrom store closes after nearly three decades

Images of a completely barren San Francisco flagship Nordstrom store circulated news media outlets. Liberal policies have led the Bay area into such a crime rampant pandemic, the flagship store was forced to close after almost three decades of doing business. Local ABC 7 News spoke with Nordstrom employees who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Located in downtown’s San Francisco Centre, Nordstrom closed on Sunday due to the area’s rise in crime, homelessness and public drug use. ‘It is definitely partially due to the crime in the area. COVID had a big impact,’ said the Nordstrom employee. “It’s half of the mall that is no longer going to be here. I do think it might change the businesses. You can already see it, It’s unfortunate” said another employee.

The news outlet created a map which shows all the major businesses which have left, or announced they are leaving, San Francisco in recent months. Whole Foods, Anthropologie, Old Navy, AmazonGo, Saks Off Fifth, and Office Depot are among the retail giants. Other stores that so far remain, such as Target, have been forced to lock entire stock of merchandise up behind glass.

John Chachas, the owner of local luxury furnisher Gump’s, and also a Columbia and Harvard Business School grad said ‘San Francisco now suffers from a “tyranny of the minority” – behavior and actions of the few that jeopardize the livelihood of the many.’

In August Chachas paid for a full-page ad in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle to publish a critical letter. Daily Mail reports:

The ad, addressed to Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor London Breed accuses the politicians of dereliction of duty due to the city’s major and rampant issues.
Chachas, 59, also said if things continue on the current path, it could end up in the 166-year-old store’s doors closing forever.

Expressing a deep desire to not be the latest casualty of the so-called ‘retail apocalypse’ gripping the city, Cachas demanded Newsom and Breed immediately reassess their ‘failed public policies’, or face a future without his store.

‘Today, as we prepare for our 166th holiday season at 250 Post Street, we fear this may be our last because of the profound erosion of this city’s conditions,’ Chachas, who ran for US senate in Nevada as a Republican in 2010 but lost, wrote.