Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

How San Francisco's Westfield turned into a ghost mall: The dying center where 75 PERCENT of units are empty and more stores are closing - as shoppers describe 'dodgy' area overrun with homeless who left them 'scared'
DAILY MAIL ^ | 28 January 2024 | LEWIS PENNOCK

Posted on 01/29/2024 9:29:04 AM PST by george76

The San Francisco Center, once a thriving mall home to the largest Nordstrom in America, is a shell of its former self after a string of high-profile departures..

Staff and shoppers in the mall, where five more stores closed in January .. crime and falling foot traffic is ruining the palatial building..

The mall lost $1 billion in value last year

...

The mall's cavernous, marble-floored atrium is eerily quiet. There's not a single shopper in sight and a litany of abandoned stores lay mostly empty, but for a few leftover cardboard boxes or fading signs which serve as a reminder of the former occupants.

...

a few years ago the luxurious complex would have been heaving with shoppers ...

...

Businesses have left in droves ... occupancy is at a measly 25 percent ... the homeless have moved in and drug-taking and crime have risen.

...

'Five years ago, this place was thriving,' Tara Button .. she and her daughter cut their visit short – with no plans to return again.

...

Nordstrom's closure .. once occupied 350,000 feet of the San Francisco Center across five floors – making it the largest Nordstrom in America.

Two months earlier in June, Westfield announced it would give up ownership of the mall, which once bore its name, and turn over the property to its lender. A cutting statement blamed the 'deteriorating situation in downtown San Francisco' and 'unsafe conditions for customers, retailers, and employees'.

...

falling foot traffic and rising crime made the departures inevitable.

....

San Francisco's dismally high office vacancy rate, which was 35.9 percent in December. That situation is compounded by the departure of several large companies, including accounting giant KPMG

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: abandoned; affirmativeaction; anarchotyranny; california; californication; crime; dei; die; diversity; dystopia; esg; homeless; mall; nordstrom; sanfrancisco; sanfransicko; westfield; westfieldmall
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-64 next last
To: george76

“Every town has the same two malls: the one white people go to and the one white people used to go to.”
— Chris Rock


41 posted on 01/29/2024 12:17:53 PM PST by Demiurge2 (Define your terms!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: FarCenter
I’ve never understood why one would want to buy clothing in a store with marble floors.

Won't be long now, the homeless are already moving in ... all that copper wiring and marble too?
They'll have to doze it after it gets stripped, too expensive to fix...

42 posted on 01/29/2024 12:26:04 PM PST by ZOOKER (Until further notice the /s is implied...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: george76

Turn the mall into an indoor shooting range. You might be surprised at how busy it gets.

The City would never go for that, though.


43 posted on 01/29/2024 12:36:01 PM PST by Disambiguator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
While it may be a high crime area, I’m guessing the stores closed because the Internets and Amazon is killing the malls.

Not just that, local politicians are killing the stores. Just down Market Streets from Westfield Mall, Amazon opened a retail store where customers would have to enter after tapping an Amazon card. Any items the customer took off the shelf would be charged to the customer, and the customer could freely walk out with the automatically purchased items. San Francisco "leaders" put a stop to it, saying it was unfair to homeless vagrants to require them to have Amazon credit cards and ID in order to enter. The store was quickly closed. In other words, allow just anyone to enter and steal goods.

44 posted on 01/29/2024 12:45:34 PM PST by roadcat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: roadcat

I have noticed here of late that Sam’s doesn’t check people to see their cards when I go there.........................


45 posted on 01/29/2024 12:47:44 PM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: george76

I saw an interesting study that plotted the lifecycle of shopping different malls and how bus stops effected the malls - negatively. Bus stops were supposed to bring customers and instead brought crime and violence.


46 posted on 01/29/2024 12:53:22 PM PST by IamConservative (I was nervous like the third chimp in line for the Ark after the rain started.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
I have noticed here of late that Sam’s doesn’t check people to see their cards when I go there.........................

They still check people at Costco here, as they enter and then check receipts as they leave.

However, many stores here are shutting down self-checkout registers because of theft. Customers don't scan all the goods from their carts, and underpay. Stores had let go checkers in favor of automated self-checkout, now reversing policy but in the meantime half the manned checkout lanes are closed due to fewer workers.

47 posted on 01/29/2024 12:54:21 PM PST by roadcat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: IamConservative
I saw an interesting study that plotted the lifecycle of shopping different malls and how bus stops effected the malls - negatively. Bus stops were supposed to bring customers and instead brought crime and violence.

That happened to a popular mall in San Bruno, just south of San Francisco. BART subway got extended from SF south to San Bruno parallel to the Tanforan Mall. Crime skyrocketed as black chiefs rode the subway from Oakland to San Bruno and committed assaults and thefts at Tanforan Mall. The mall recently announced it is closing, and most stores have left. A private company is taking over the property for building a private business park.

48 posted on 01/29/2024 12:59:32 PM PST by roadcat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: george76

SF is where the GOP could unravel the CRE debt implosion, but ...


49 posted on 01/29/2024 4:08:03 PM PST by StAnDeliver (TrumpII)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: T.B. Yoits

50 posted on 01/29/2024 4:33:48 PM PST by StAnDeliver (TrumpII)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: StAnDeliver
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2021/11/23/indianapolis-crime-killings-homicide-shootings-city-facing-another-year-records/6133287001/

https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/nashville/nashville-crime-stats-more-than-90-homicides-reported-by-end-of-october/

The Indianapolis murder rate has been steadily climbing for more than a decade.

Nashville was a focal point of the Democrat Riots of 2020. They even set the courthouse on fire.

St. Louis, in 2020, broke their record for murder at 30% higher than any year in the past 50. They were also a focal point of the Democrat Riots of 2020. In just one evening, four police officers were shot by rioters.

51 posted on 01/29/2024 4:53:02 PM PST by T.B. Yoits
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: DoughtyOne

I have pity for my conservative friends in California. But I have to reserve some of that for my own putrid Leftist state.


52 posted on 01/29/2024 5:07:43 PM PST by rlmorel ("The stigma for being wrong is gone, as long as you're wrong for the right side." (Clarice Feldman))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: T.B. Yoits

I live around 10 miles from the Boston Harbor and have no idea why the city hasn’t gone down completely down the toilet like the rest.
Maybe the reputation of being racist?
I dunno..


53 posted on 01/29/2024 5:28:31 PM PST by mowowie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: george76

Thanks for the tip. So glad I got out of there.


54 posted on 01/29/2024 7:39:19 PM PST by SaxxonWoods (Are you ready for Black Lives MAGA? It's coming.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: rlmorel

Sunny, beautiful Florida awaits you. Just make sure to bring some savings for the home insurance.


55 posted on 01/29/2024 7:53:17 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (FBI out of Florida!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: rlmorel

The sad thing is, watching a magical place you love, get
hosed by Leftist policy out the ying yang.

I have to tell you also, truthfully, the Republican party
abandoned it’s principles in the state, and handed it over
to the democrats without so much as a small skirmish to
stop them.

We’ve had some pretty decent candidates for the offices
out here, and the party didn’t lift one finger to help
them.

It’s a major factor in why I really despise the GOPe/RNC
leadership so much. I criticize them a lot.

A good example of the type of thing I have seen here,
actually took place back east. Judge Roy Moore is such
a great example of how the party leadership has acted
over the years to defeat Conservatism.

Moore could have been on the SCOTUS, an absolute lock on
Conservative values, but the leadership actually helped
the democrats to defeat him.

This whole nation suffers from the lack of good
Conservative leadership. It’s precisely why we are
where we are right now.

I had hoped Trump could get more decent people installed
at the top, but I’m not sure if he can. He has the right
ideas on policy, buy his appointments don’t always pan
out. The Left targets them, and the Right lets them
twist on the vine. McConnell and Ryan and others never
supporting him or his policies they way they should.

I don’t believe there is anyone better out there though.

With no help at all, his term in office was a very good
term with the nation running in the right direction for
his first three years prior to COVID.


56 posted on 01/29/2024 8:14:08 PM PST by DoughtyOne (I pledge allegiance to the flag of the USofA & to the Constitutional REPUBLIC for which it stands.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: DoughtyOne

The Democrats have ruled California for several decades now.

_________________________________________________________

If California were a smaller state, then the damage could be limited to a greater extent. The East Coast is chopped up amongst a lot of states (with no state dominating maritime commerce to the extent that CA does). All of that wealth coming into the state has allowed it to abuse its position. No single state should wield that much electoral and financial power in a nation.


57 posted on 01/30/2024 8:27:00 AM PST by Bishop_Malachi (Liberal Socialism - A philosophy which advocates spreading a low standard of living equally.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: george76

There are videos of blockafter block after block of closwed shops and businesses

The Banks are holding an empty bag. They now own what was once San Francisco


58 posted on 01/30/2024 8:31:38 AM PST by bert ( (KE. NP. +12) Hamascide is required in totality)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: roadcat

Nieman Marcus will be next.


59 posted on 01/30/2024 8:47:38 AM PST by Bookshelf
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: Bishop_Malachi

I think the more interesting argument is why would a party decide to
abandon an important state the way the Republican Party did.

California could easily have been a force for good, but decent leaders
were not supported by the Republican machine.


60 posted on 01/30/2024 9:43:37 AM PST by DoughtyOne (I pledge allegiance to the flag of the USofA & to the Constitutional REPUBLIC for which it stands.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-64 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson