San Francisco's biggest mall loses another clothing store as businesses battle theft and run-down environment

Daily Mail​

6 hours ago

San Francisco's largest mall continues to flounder as yet another store has pulled out, citing high levels of theft.
Milk Tee, a women's clothing retailer, announced last week that it would soon be moving out of the mall after five years.
'It is with great sadness that we announce the difficult decision to close our store location here in San Francisco,' the business revealed on Instagram.
'Unfortunately, due to the lack of improvement for businesses in the city's environment, high theft, and low sales overall at San Francisco Centre, it has driven us to take on this difficult decision.'
The store is currently offering a 30 percent off sale of its entire contents.
The mall in San Francisco's downtown has struggled to deal with the area's descent into lawless homeless camps with open air drugs markets and high levels of theft following the pandemic.
The San Francisco Centre mall has shed many of its other retailers. Recent major losses include Bloomingdale's, Razer, Kate Spade and Michael Kors.
The exodus has been ongoing for years, with Adidas and American Eagle closing their doors in January and May of last year, respectively.
Other high-profile departures include L'Occitane, Sephora, J. Crew, Hollister, and the Lego Store.
The mall itself is set to be sold at auction on July 24, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
This is the fifth time the auction has been rescheduled, but reasons for the delay are unclear.
The mall, previously known as the Westfield San Francisco Centre, was renamed last year in an effort to rejuvenate its tired image.
'During the Centre's 128-year history, it has evolved with the times to sustain and reinvent itself as a community gathering place,' its owner Trident Pacific said in a release at the time.
Trident took over the running of the mall from Westfield in the summer of 2023 after it defaulted on its loans.
The mall had also faced legal action from American Eagle which claimed that mismanagement and 'neglect' from the mall has left its employees to 'suffer and respond to gun violence, physical assaults, burglaries, and robberies.'
'We're committed to working with our existing retailers and restaurants, the City, and the community to ensure that this historic location has a new foundation to succeed,' the mall said at the time.
Michael Kors has closed its store in the struggling downtown area
Downtown San Francisco retail continues to suffer as a result of the area's rampant crime and shoplifting epidemic.
Market Street, where the mall is located, has become a haven for open drug use and homeless encampments.
Earlier this year Sephora shuttered its Laurel Heights location in the city, and Macy's announced the closure of its stores in Newark and Corte Madera.
2023 was the deadliest year on record for drug deaths largely thanks to the proliferation of fentanyl.
Progressive 'harm reduction' policies which don't penalize hard drug use have been blamed for worsening the crisis.