Two more big chain stores flee San Francisco: Anthropologie and Office Depot join retail exodus in one of the city's most famous neighborhoods
- The Market Street Anthropologie will be closing its doors on May 13. Office Depot, located on Third Street, will also be closing, but closing date is unknown
- The two stores join the growing list of now-17 stores that have abandoned the Union Square neighborhood in the city, including H&M and Marshall's
- Union Square has had a hard time bouncing back after the pandemic as shoppers have failed to flock back to the once-popular shopping location
Anthropologie and Office Depot have joined the mass retail exodus in San Francisco as a total of 17 stores have already packed their bags and left the city by the bay.
The Market Street Anthropologie will be closing its doors on May 13, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. As a result, the store will no longer have a location in the city.
Office Depot, located on Third Street, will also be closing, an employee confirmed on Tuesday, but the exact closing date is unknown. The store has a bigger store on Geary Boulevard, which will not close.
The two stores join the growing list of now-17 stores that have abandoned the Union Square neighborhood in the coastal city, including H&M, Marshall's, Gap, and Banana Republic, among others.
Despite official reports that San Francisco's crime rate is on the way down, one former prosecutor said this month that the city's liberal district attorney's decision not to prosecute many crimes skewed those numbers.
The Market Street Anthropologie (pictured) will be closing its doors on May 13
Office Depot, located on Third Street, (pictured) will also be closing, an employee confirmed on Tuesday, but the exact closing date is unknown
Gap was the first to announce its departure in August 2020, shortly followed by H&M and Marshall's. As the years went on, more and more stores slowly pulled out.
Union Square has had a hard time bouncing back after the pandemic as shoppers have failed to flock back to the once-popular shopping location.
San Francisco, as a whole, has had trouble rebounding as the city's residents continue to battle a crime epidemic, brought to light recently with the murder of Cash App CEO Bob Lee and the brutal broad daylight attack on the city's former fire commissioner.
Although crime is down nearly eight percent, compared to the same time last year, stores have begun locking up merchandise.
A Target store in San Francisco has locked its entire product range behind security.
A video posted on TikTok on April 20 shows all of the items locked away from customers.
According to geotagged imagery, some products at the store on Folsom Street were behind glass since at least October of last year, WNCT reported.
The two stores join the growing list of now-17 stores that have abandoned the Union Square neighborhood in the coastal city, including H&M, Marshall's, Gap, and Banana Republic, among others
Although crime is down, compared to the same time last night, stores have begun locking up merchandise and pack up their bags to avoid the rampant crime
A Target spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Like other retailers, organized retail crime is a concern across our business. We’re taking proactive measures to keep our teams and guests safe while deterring and preventing theft. These mitigation efforts include hiring additional security guards, adding third-party guard services at select locations, and using new technologies and tools to protect merchandise from being stolen.
'We are working with legislators, law enforcement, and retail industry partners to support public policy that would help achieve our goals of creating a safe environment in our stores and keeping our doors open in communities across the country.'
In addition, one of the largest supermarkets in Downtown San Francisco has closed down just one year after opening due to widespread drug use, theft and aggressive behavior towards staff members.
A Target, located on Folsom Street, has store many items behind glass
Organic food giant Whole Foods opened a new 'flagship' location at Trinity Place in the city's Tenderloin district in March 2022, but it closed its doors after a year
A Whole Foods spokesperson declared the store closed down last night due to safety concerns for its staff amid rampant drug use, theft and aggressive behavior in the area (pictured: homeless people consume drugs in street encampments in downtown SF)
Organic food giant Whole Foods opened a new 'flagship' location at Trinity Place in the city's Tenderloin District in March 2022, hoping to revitalize footfall after two years of draconian COVID-19 restrictions severely impacted businesses in the area.
But a Whole Foods spokesperson declared the store closed down last night due to safety concerns for its staff. 'We are closing our Trinity location only for the time being,' the spokesperson said in a statement. 'If we feel we can ensure the safety of our team members in the store, we will evaluate a reopening of our Trinity location.'
A City Hall source told The San Francisco Standard the company cited deteriorating street conditions around drug use and crime near the store as the driving factors behind the closure.
Industry groups have noted that there is an issue with theft, with the National Retail Federation saying that organized retail crime is setting stores back around $100 billion a year, according to a 2022 survey.
In 2021, retailers saw a 27 per cent increase in theft carried out by organized criminal rings, the survey found. To tackle the issue, they invested more money in safety and security measures to protect employees, customers and merchandise.
