Dem-run city’s iconic mall teeters on collapse as 93% of stores vacant after crime-wave causes stores to flee

DAILYMAIL.COM ^ | 17 September 2025 | BEN SHIMKUS

[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.

[Bob Wills is still the king]

Same decline most malls around the nation have faced. Amazon and other online shopping sites mean nobody has to go to the mall anymore for anything but recreational shopping.