One of the last retailers to close up shop at the nearly shuttered San Francisco Centre mall is H&M, which just confirmed it will close down in January, after the holidays.
Some of the last remaining stores at the San Francisco Centre mall are, oddly, still trying to do business in the nearly empty shopping center. And among them is the outpost of H&M on the third floor of the mall.
But H&M just confirmed that they have gotten their notice to vacate from the mall's new owners, and they'll be doing so in January.
Presumably that means that the H&M Man and H&M Kids stores will be closed as well — the mall directory shows them both as still open, among about two dozen stores that are still doing business there.
But the Chronicle got a statement from H&M that suggests that they, perhaps like Japanese discount retailer Uniqlo, might be plotting a return to SF after closing their huge Powell Street store early in the pandemic.
"We remain committed to our presence in the San Francisco Area and will continue to explore opportunities for the best store locations — a guiding principle since our founding in 1947 — as reflected in our recent opening at Stonestown Galleria on Nov. 20, 2025," the company said.
At one time, a number of retailers including Tiffany, Zara, and John Varvatos had locations both at street level in Union Square and inside the nearby former Westfield mall — which retail brokers said reflected an effort to target different demographics of customers.
John Varvatos, which closed its location in the mall this year, announced plans in August to return to Union Square with a store at 58 Geary Street, not far from its former Geary location. Similarly, Zara is planning to open a multi-level flagship store at Post and Powell streets next year, after also closing its location in the mall.
Uniqlo confirmed in early October that it will be taking over the former Old Navy store on Market Street at Fourth, a few doors down from the mall.
The SF Centre complex sold at auction last month for a fire-sale price after losing anchor tenants Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom in the last two years. And shortly thereafter we learned that the corsortium of banks that bought it, including Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase, are in the process of evicting all the remaining tenants so they can shutter the building altogether and save cash as it awaits resale or redevelopment. With no tenants there, owners can save on utilities, maintenance, and hired security.
Last week, Shake Shack announced its closure, leaving only Panda Express down in the once bustling food court.
And the only stores remaining open before the holidays are GNC, Foot Locker, Pawbox, H&M, Ecco, a couple of eyebrow salons, street-level stores Aritzia and Boss, and a few other businesses.
Over in Union Square, things are looking only slightly better than they were earlier in the year with the arrival of some pop-up stores and the new Off the Grid food hall filling some of the larger vacancies along Powell and Stockton streets. And the opening of the new Bourbon Steak and Bourbon Lounge at the Westin St. Francis also has injected some energy around the park itself.
Related: SF’s Beleaguered Former Westfield Mall Now Actively Kicking Out Its Few Remaining Tenants
Top image via Yelp
