Another Flagship Store Flees Downtown San Francisco

U.S. wireless carrier AT&T said on Friday it would close its flagship store in downtown San Francisco, reports Reuters.

“Consumer shopping habits continue to change, and we’re changing with them. That means serving customers where they are through the right mix of retail stores, digital channels. and our phone-based care team,” a company spokesperson said.

Crime is out of control, and Downtown, a once booming quaint part of the city is too crime-ridden for these businesses to survive.

The city of San Francisco is facing persistent issues regarding open-air drug use, criminal activity, and homelessness, which are impacting the business community. Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin sent a letter to San Francisco Mayor London Breed demanding change following a Q&A event Breed attended on May 23, where she was booed off the stage.

“I know you share my concern that the brazen drug dealing and deteriorating street conditions have exacerbated a humanitarian crisis on our streets,” Peskin said in the letter. “This is not a new problem, but it has become so visible that many San Franciscans do not feel safe.”

This is why San Francisco mayor London Breed and her posse got booed and had to seek shelter from her own constituents pic.twitter.com/QaP6Gsulcs

— • ᗰISᑕᕼIᗴᖴ ™ • (@4Mischief) May 26, 2023

The downtown AT&T is a flagship store. The Union Square store will close on August 1, and a similar store in Chicago on Michigan Avenue will shut down the same day, leaving the nation’s only AT&T flagship store in Dallas.

The planned AT&T shutdown marks the 25th primary business closure in the Union Square area since crime sprees worsened.

An analysis by The Standard indicates that 46% of Westfield’s stores have closed since the pandemic. Another study shows Union Square has lost at least 17 stores since 2020.

Gap, Old Navy’s parent company, used the same excuse when it shut down after 25 years – it’s the changing buying habits since the pandemic.

In a statement last month, Gap said that the choice to shut down the store had been “difficult;” but, it was necessary to “ensure a healthy fleet of stores,” adding that the company had already identified better locations in downtown San Francisco to “better serve the needs of the business and our customers.”

Last month, T-Mobile left the Union Square area, making AT&T the 25th corporation to close in Union Square since the beginning of COVID-19, the outlet said. [As if COVID is the problem] Formerly a Bank of America building, the seven-year-old flagship store flourished in downtown San Francisco with BART and Muni metro stations nearby, according to the Standard.

Movie theater chain Cinemark Theaters announced Wednesday it would be closing a store across the street from AT&T’s flagship store.

Earlier this week, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield said it would transfer its Westfield San Francisco shopping mall to lenders.

Nordstrom said last month it was going to give up its downtown store.

Real estate investment trust Park Hotels & Resorts had also said it ceased making payments toward a $725 million mortgage on two downtown hotels last week.

But we always have Uncle Joe to keep us going. “God Save the Queen!” Would that be Dr. Jill? Did we give Connecticut back to England?

‘ALRIGHT, MAN’: Biden inexplicably drops “God Save The Queen” to wrap up a Friday speech in Connecticut. https://t.co/yQTsmPybqt pic.twitter.com/qGoQHCmVOp

— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) June 16, 2023

Here’s a longer clip, and it sounds worse.

It gets crazier by the day…What in the world did I just watch? pic.twitter.com/euCKdKqIMc

— Cyndi (@OffCyndisc) June 16, 2023

PowerInbox