Posted on 05/30/2023 11:12:49 AM PDT by Twotone
An Old Navy employee is speaking out about the out-of-control crime in downtown San Francisco that resulted in the company making its recent decision to permanently shutter the store location on Market Street, following in the footsteps of Nordstrom, Whole Foods, T-Mobile, and a whole host of other business.
In an interview with CBS News, the worker detailed the rampant shoplifting and violence towards staff that employees were forced to deal with on a daily basis.
"They're (shoplifters) there every day. When I'm on the floor walking around I would say at least 12, 14 during the day," the worker who wished to remain anonymous told the network. "It's really bad because it's downtown San Francisco and it's really out of control."
"I recognize a lot of them and they're just super comfortable, sometimes they'll take two or three mesh bags at a time, and that sometimes is $2,000 worth of stuff," the Old Navy employee explained.
The worker said that the increase in shoplifting and other criminal activity has exponentially worsed within the past year, and explained that Old Navy's flagship store, which is set to permanently close on July 1, was hit by thieves 22 times in the past two days, according to CBS News.
On Saturday, Old Navy released a statement announcing the company's decision to shutter its doors in downtown San Francisco, which has been on Market Street for more than three decades, according to New York Post.
"Old Navy is always evaluating its real estate portfolio to ensure a healthy fleet of stores that can provide the best possible experience for our customers,” Gap Inc. said, which owns retailers that include Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athleta. Since our Market Street store opened in the 1990s, the way we leverage flagship locations has changed."
"As a result, we have taken the difficult decision to close our Market Street store when the lease expires, and we are already working to identify new locations in downtown San Francisco that will better serve the needs of the business and our customers," the statement continued.
While the retailer did not disclose in the statement whether or not the increase in crime led to the decision to close the downtown location, the employee made it clear that it was a contributing factor as workers "no longer feel safe" at the store.
"I feel I'm not as safe as I should be," the employee said. "I've seen one guy carry a hammer before, so you don't know what these people's intentions are when they're trying to steal, and I feel like sometimes my life could be in jeopardy."
"I was sad for awhile, because I do love the store, I do love my team... other than that, I'm kind of glad that they're closing, because I don't feel like fearing for my life every single day that I work there," they said. "I just hope that it can get back to normal the way that it used to be when people were out shopping, having fun, with their families." San Francisco Mayor London Breed has publicly claimed that the mass exodus of businesses in the city are not due to the increase in crime, but rather the changing directory between retailers and consumers.
Following Old Navy's announcement, Mayor Breed said on Friday that this "is not about the issues and the conditions, this is about the changes to retail. And that's just where we are at this time. And it's time for us to make some adjustments to that."
"The city is growing and expanding, but not in the traditional Financial District 9 to 5 ways, or retail shop in the various mall things that the young people used to do," Breed said, who added that the city will start to see a financial comback following artificial intelligence companies $15.6 billion dollars in investment in the city.
In recent months, Nordstrom, Whole Foods, T-Mobile, Walgreens, and Saks OFF 5th, all have announced their departures, citing rampant retail theft, violence from homeless vagrants, and loss of foot traffic as residents refuse to shop in the once-beloved city.
Anyone would have to have rocks in their head to want to hold a convention in SF these days. This didn’t have to happen, it’s totally predictable what happens when you stop protecting your stores from shoplifting and they tried to just ignore that. There’s a price to pay for their virtue signaling wokeism and everyone, including the employees who will no longer have jobs have to pay it.
Thanks for nothing Gap inc. You’ve only made the problem worse.
The thieves are everywhere these days
I cannot even imagine how the insurance companies are dealing with all of this.
I would think they would cease to cover shoplifting
Sad. Market St. has been tough for many years. From 1985-1995 I took my parents to Union Square on the Friday after Thanksgiving to see the beautiful windows and amazing clothes people were wearing. Exciting. Yes, those were the days. Sears restaurant on Union Square is still nice.
I was in Detroit not too long ago, The white beatnick types are cleaning up downtown and moving their art galleries, coffee shops, and turning some of the empty lots in to gardens. Of course the black agitators are claiming “gentrification by whitey” down town looks better than it has in a long time.
San Francisco see Mad Max movie same.
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