Posted on 09/17/2025 3:58:17 AM PDT by dennisw
READ MORE: Future of mall favorite's 1.4k shops in the air as buyer swoops in
Shops in San Francisco's most iconic mall can't catch a break.
The San Francisco Centre, once a shining beacon of economic strength featuring a multi-level golden spiral staircase and ornate Corinthian columns, has been snowballing into oblivion.
Shops have been closing for years. Owners have stopped paying their rent. Auctions for the building's sale have been continually postponed.
And now, 93 percent of the mall's 1.56 million square feet of retail is vacant.
At its peak, more than 200 stores attracted deal-seeking shoppers, but today, the mall's directory only lists 27 open stores.
Officials have blamed the iconic mall's downturn on pandemic lockdowns, rampant retail theft, and concerns about homelessness.
Opening its doors in 1988, the structure was a nine-story building with multiple flagship stores, and created a San Franciscan phrase, 'Meet me under the Dome.'
In 2009, the mall won a best-of-the-best award from the International Council of Shopping Centers.
However, cracks in the iconic structure's surface appeared in 2023, when Nordstrom, its largest store, decided to close.
Will crime get worse in Dem-run cities?
Yes No Not sure Westfield, America's largest chain of malls, stopped paying its $558million mortgage quickly after.
That started a dam break that has seen more than 100 stores close. This year alone has seen Zara, Milk Tea, and Michael Kors shutter their locations in the shopping center.
'We are hopeful to be back to serve the San Francisco community in the future,' a Macy's spokesperson said in January while announcing Bloomingdale's was shutting down its five-story location 21 years before the end of the lease.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
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“In 2009, the mall won a best-of-the-best award from the International Council of Shopping Centers.” Time flies!
When Nordstrom left in 2023, 100 other stores fled too.
When one allows criminals to take over this what you get.
I bet China is eyeing San Francisco.
“rampant retail theft”
…Yogi says “tell everybody what people are mainly guilty of this theft”
“When one allows criminals to take over this what you get.”
Soros funded leftist District Attorneys are city killers. Via zero bail laws and non-prosecutions. No one in their right mind thinks this is a good idea. But blame stupid voters who vote them in.
“Liberalism is a mental illness” —— Michael Savage
Democrats are incapable of self governance.
Their incompetence and rampant crime causes the taxpayers to move away... giving them more power.
Then it’s a Detroit race to the bottom hellhole.
There was a wonderful indoor mall near me. Maybe 60 stores, with plenty of parking. It was a great place to shop.
Then the owner made a strategic error. He allowed a bus stop to be placed at one of the entrances. The place quickly became unsafe.
That was maybe 15 years ago. Then to make matters worse, Covid hit. The mall is empty now, and is in the process of being torn down.
🙁
NYC is about to get this, good and hard.
Many minority civic leaders, mayors, AG’s, etc. take office and then immediately begin (or continue) careers of fraud and incompetence, for which they are NEVER held to account.
The people representing these groups set the worst possible example. Consequently, the ‘man on the street’ sees it as the model of entitlement and lawlessness they have a perfect right to emulate.
This culture of corruption is endemic, accepted and getting worse all the time!
Please just stop with the juvenile black blaming. The problem is spiritual, that America has turned its back on God.
Yep.
NO, the downturn is not caused by "concerns" about homelessness. It's because of VAGRANTS, JUNKIES, AND BUMS that law enforcement refuses to control, and nobody wants to be around vagrants, junkies, and bums.
Democrats build nothing, but they are superb at destroying things. In fact, they have been destroying everything their hands touch.
Now why is it people vote for Democrats again?
It looks like the mall where they shot that cinematic jewel, “ Mannequin”. Right up there with Citizen Kane, and The Seventh Seal.
Could be, I never saw the movie. 😁👍
Mysteriously absent is mention of the source of these ills. I'm going to guess Democrats.
There is a successful model for cultural revival, it begins with spiritual revival. Charlie Kirk understood this.
https://www.city-journal.org/article/how-dagger-john-saved-new-yorks-irish
“Now why is it people vote for Democrats again?”
Mainly the 19th Amendment, but on our side it’s because their local Republican isn’t ‘pure enough’ for them (so they sit out elections to let Democrats win).
Yup—excellent post.
Mass transit is a solid indicator of dangerous neighborhoods and commercial areas.
Of course that means Democrats want more of it!
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