


San Francisco’s downward spiral is continuing, as it is becoming clear that the city has dug itself far too deep a hole to get out of anytime soon.
Nordstrom is the latest company to call it quits in downtown San Francisco, announcing that its five-floor location at the Westfield Mall and its discount outlet, Nordstrom Rack, will be shutting down in the summer once the stores’ leases expire. According to the department store company, “the dynamics of the downtown San Francisco market have changed dramatically over the past several years, impacting customer foot traffic to our stores and our ability to operate successfully.”
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Downtown San Francisco has been in decay for years due to crime, and the closures are only accelerating now as companies reexamine their positions. Whole Foods shuttered a location after less than a year of operation after spending that time making regular emergency calls. Last week, San Francisco finally decided to arrest someone, but that person was a security guard who shot and killed a shoplifter in self-defense. (The charges against that security guard were later dropped.)
The spiral is only going to become worse as these closures snowball. One restaurant worker said Nordstrom’s departure would hurt their business, as it would bring even less traffic to the mall. While the benefits of remaining open drop as the potential customer base decreases, the safety risks stay the same. One intersection near the mall was the site of 586 emergency calls through the first four months of the year, an average of nearly five emergency calls a day.
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This collapse is playing out on a larger scale across the city. The flight of residents and businesses is causing the city’s tax revenue to crater, leaving San Francisco anticipating a budget deficit of nearly $800 million. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has sent in the National Guard and the California Highway Patrol to help the city deal with its surge in fentanyl overdose deaths.
This is what years of enabling criminal behavior buys you. Businesses flee and residents join them. Their departures lead more businesses and more residents to follow, as crime, homelessness, and drug addiction show no signs of improvement while the few perks of living in the unreasonably expensive city fade away. San Francisco’s spiral is going to become worse before it gets better. Who knows how many residents will stick around for it?