SF News John Varvatos Moves Back to Union Square; Could H&M Be Next? As retailers flee the dying, anchorless SF Centre mall, it looks like it could be Union Square's gain.
SF News Zara Gives Good News to Union Square With Flagship Store Planned Fast fashion retailer Zara is planning to relocate a block away from its existing location in Union Square and open a huge new flagship store at the corner of Post and Powell.
SF News Saks Could Be the Next Major Retailer to Exit Union Square Saks Fifth Avenue, which already switched to an appointment-only model at its Union Square store, may not be sticking around much longer in SF, real estate experts surmise.
SF News Sunday Links: Stranded Astronauts Set To Return Home This Week The astronauts who've been stranded in space for several months are getting picked up by a new crew; the Nintendo store is bringing its second US location to Powell Street; and an American influencer apologized for snatching a baby wombat from its mom in Australia.
SF News Bloomingdale's to Close at SF Centre, Ushering In Further Bleak Days for Beleaguered Mall This is not news that anyone wanted to hear today about San Francisco and its downtown recovery efforts, but following in the footsteps of major retailers Nordstrom and Macy's, Bloomingdale's is shuttering its massive SF store.
SF News Buyer Interest Emerges for Macy's Union Square Property; City Holds Out Hope Macy's Will Stay In Some Form The Macy's corporation hasn't shared much in the way of plans since its bombshell announcement earlier this year that it would close its flasghip San Francisco store. But there are a couple of possibilities emerging for the property.
SF News SF's Downtown Mall Markets Itself to Small Businesses, Signs Seven New Leases There's some good news on the retail front for San Francisco, with the Union Square-adjacent Emporium Centre San Francisco having signed seven new leases in recent weeks to fill some of the abundant vacancy in the troubled mall.
Business & Tech Nintendo Announces They’re Opening a Store in SF’s Union Square, Only Their Second Store in the US Mario, Luigi, and Pokémon are swooping in to hopefully save San Francisco’s Union Square, as the video game giant Nintendo just announced they’re taking over one of the many vacant retail spots in the beleaguered shopping district sometime in 2025.
SF News American Eagle Outfitters Is the Latest Store to Depart Ailing Downtown SF Mall The Emporium Centre San Francisco, formerly known as the Westfield San Francisco Centre, continues on the vacancy train with the announcement of the July closure of American Eagle Outfitters, one of the larger remaining stores in the mall.
SF News 172-Year-Old Shreve & Co. Jewelry Store Permanently Closing Its Union Square Shop The venerable San Francisco-based jeweler Shreve & Co. just announced they’re closing up their Union Square shop permanently, though watch and necklace enthusiasts can clean up on 60% off liquidation sales starting this Friday.
Arts & Entertainment Vacant to Vibrant Program Hosts Community Market Today; Eight New Pop-Ups Announced Downtown SF's Vacant to Vibrant program, which puts pop-up businesses into vacant spaces rent-free around SoMa and the Financial District, is hosting a community market on this sunny Thursday afternoon on Market Street.
SF News 30-Year-Old SF Woman Accused of Committing 20 Separate Retail Thefts at Westfield Mall The San Francisco District Attorney's Office is calling attention to a case in which one woman suspected of participating in a rampant spree of retail thefts has been arrested and charged.
SF News Mayor Breed Pledges Major Police, Ambassador Presence to Keep Union Square Safe for Holiday Shopping City leaders held a press conference Tuesday to jointly discuss safety measures being taken for the upcoming APEC summit in San Francisco, and the kickoff of the holiday shopping season in Union Square.
SF News Two Suspects Charged In Smash-and-Grab Involving Car at Union Square Dior Store The pair of suspects arrested in connection with last week's brazen smash-and-grab robbery at the Christian Dior store in Union Square — a robbery that involved ramming through the front gates and door of the store with a car — have now been charged.
SF News Lululemon Store on Fillmore Targeted Twice For Organized Theft Last Week, Four Suspects Charged The SFPD made multiple arrests last week in connection with organized retail thefts in the city, but two incidents happened at the same store, the Lululemon at 2040 Fillmore Street.
SF News Chinatown Pet Store Selling for '$0' Finds a Taker, and It's a Longtime Customer A story that went viral last month about a San Francisco pet store owner looking to sell his business to the right buyer for "$0" — actually for $120,000 worth of inventory — has a happy ending.
SF News East Bay Man Arrested For Apparent Fencing Operation With $190K Worth of Retail Goods A 52-year-old man was arrested at his home in El Sobrante last week and was found in possession of nearly $200,000 worth of allegedly stolen goods from retailers including Lululemon, Victoria's Secret, CVS, Walgreens, and Target.
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink Yes, There Will Be Meatballs (and Plant Balls) When IKEA Opens Next Week Never fear, ye fans of IKEA's Swedish meatballs: The new downtown SF IKEA store will be serving them immediately upon opening next Wednesday.
SF News Gump’s Store Owner Slams SF In Open Letter Complaining About Street Conditions, Remote Work The current owner of longtime Union Square retail emporium Gump's took out a full-page ad in Sunday’s Chronicle, an open letter to Governor Newsom, Mayor Breed, and the SF Board of Supervisors about the evils of remote work and the conditions of SF streets.
SF News San Francisco IKEA Store Has An Opening Date, and It's Very Soon After what seems like — and actually was — years of waiting, we have an opening date for the new downtown IKEA store in San Francisco.
SF News IKEA Store to Open On Market Street With New Co-Working Space On Top Floor; Mall Opening Next Year The IKEA-affiliated mall on Market Street between Fifth and Sixth streets that was previously being called "Livat" will be called Meeting Place, and we're now getting an update about what's going on inside.
SF News San Francisco's Chief Economist Says 'Doom Loop' Talk Overblown, Consumer Spending Nearing Pre-Pandemic Levels Continuing their mea culpa over all that "doom loop" coverage they've done for several months, the San Francisco Chronicle has a piece today where they — finally! — get SF's own Chief Economist Ted Egan to weigh in with his sober opinion on the matter.
SF Politics Supervisors Relax Zoning Laws In Union Square and Downtown In Hopes of Filling Vacancies City Hall’s answer to the Union Square retail exodus is to bring in new things that aren’t retail, and the Board of Supervisors just voted unanimously Tuesday to loosen zoning laws on Union Square and downtown commercial conversions.
SF News EU-Based Westfield Says It Is Walking Away From San Francisco Mall Property, as It Has Several of Its US Malls The parent company of the formerly Australian shopping center brand Westfield announced a year ago that it wanted to divest itself of its US mall properties. And following the Nordstrom closure announcement, they are walking away from their Market Street mall in SF and surrendering it to the lender.
SF News Walgreens Cuts Ties With Central Valley-Based Security Firm Whose Employee Shot Banko Brown Pharmacy chain Walgreens has fired the private security firm, Kingdom Group Protective Services, whose guard fatally shot a shoplifting suspect last month at a Market Street store.
