- Conservative media has sounded the alarm with every story closing on Union Square in downtown San Francisco, among the most liberal cites in the U.S.
- The list of recent closings include two Nordstrom stores, a Saks Off 5th, T-Mobile’s flagship and Old Navy.
- But the exodus is “serious” concern for some business leaders and economists, reports The Los Angeles Times.
- According to data from the commercial real estate services firm Cushman and Wakefield, the contributing factors are a reductions in consumer spending, disruptions in the supply chain, high operation costs and public safety.
- The city’s retail vacancy rate is now its highest since 2006.
- “It’s a very serious problem for the whole city, much less downtown,” Jeff Bellisario, executive director of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, told the newspaper.
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San Francisco Business Leaders, Economists Admit Stores Shutterings ‘Serious Problem’
A large window of the Louis Vuitton store is seen boarded up following a recent robbery at Union Square in San Francisco, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. In San Francisco, homeless tents, open drug use, home break-ins and dirty streets have proliferated during the pandemic. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)