SF News SF Retail Was Hurting Before the Pandemic; Will Post-COVID SF Still Look Like a Ghost Town For Years? Union Square. Hayes Valley. The Castro. In these and other neighborhoods around the city, no amount of parklet dining and drinking can make up for the fact that, on some blocks, there are more empty storefronts than there are active ones.
SF News H&M Has Permanently Closed On Powell Street After 15 Years Swedish fast-fashion retailer H&M has become the latest casualty in the slow collapse of SF's Union Square, as the company announces that it has permanently shuttered its West Coast flagship store on Powell Street.
Business & Tech City's First Latina-Owned Pot Dispensary Opens In Union Square A sleek new dispensary just debuted in Union Square Friday morning to an eager crowd of early customers, and it's the first in the city to be owned by a Latina woman.
SF News IKEA Confirmed For Mid-Market Mall Project; Breed Takes Credit For Pitching the Idea IKEA is coming to downtown to SF next fall, to the long-empty 6x6 mall on Market Street between Fifth and Sixth streets, and the plan is for an urban version of an IKEA store that's about 20-percent of the size of their regular, sprawling suburban complexes.
SF Politics Will the Pandemic Retail Apocalypse Push SF Neighborhoods to Ease Formula Retail Rules? The pandemic and recession may be reason enough to ease at least some of the restrictions that have kept chain stores of all kinds from populating empty retail spaces, now that neighborhoods like Hayes Valley are looking pretty grim.
SF News Tuesday Morning Topline: Gap Closes Flagship Store At Powell and Market Hundreds of San Jose residents are livid at PG&E for a 44-hour power outage, a case of bubonic plague has popped up at South Lake Tahoe, and Gap Inc. is shutting down three of its of four SF stores.
SF News Old-School Castro Barbershop 'Male Image' Is Closing After 41 Years Male Image, the barbershop near the corner of Market and Sanchez in the Castro, is not going to reopen whenever barbershops are allowed to in SF. Longtime owner Gary Mootz reportedly plans to retire.
SF News Curbside Retail Begins in SF With Noted Lines at Sex Shops, Bookstores Curbside retail sales and pickup began in SF on Monday. But because of the tight restrictions placed on local retailers by the city, it was met with a muted drum roll and short, sparse lines — for some merchants, if any at all — across the seven-by-seven.
SF News Mayor Breed Gives Green Light For Most SF Retail to Open For Curbside Sales and Delivery on Monday In her daily press briefing, Mayor London Breed said Wednesday that SF's retail businesses could go ahead and reopen on May 18 for curbside sales. But prior to issuing a similar order for San Mateo County, the outspoken health officer there has some grim words of caution.
SF News Macy's/I. Magnin Building On Union Square May Get Condos On Top Floors A new plan has been submitted for a mixed-use conversion of the former I. Magnin building on Union Square — most recently the white-stone-clad extension of Macy's at the corner of Stockton and Geary — that would include 21 condo units on the top three floors.
Arts & Entertainment Smaller, Humbler Gump's Pop-Up Brings Pricey Ornaments To Union Square Legendary bougie Union Square retail emporium Gump's, which went bankrupt and closed up its doors last fall, has popped back up as a pop-up in a much smaller space that was, coincidentally, one of the store's original homes.
SF Politics Vacancy Tax Passes Board of Supervisors, Will Appear on March Ballot Landlords will get charged by the square foot for keeping spots empty, if voters approve the Storefront Vacancy Tax in the March 2020 election.
Arts & Entertainment Goop Store Brings 'Kid Calming Mist' and Vagina Eggs To Pacific Heights Gwyneth Paltrow's kind of creepy, "aspirational" retail and content brand Goop is opening its fifth brick-and-mortar retail shop today on Fillmore Street — and no doubt some fans will be flocking there for curated displays of kitchenware and $200 tank tops.
Business & Tech Unionmade Shuts Retail Stores In Castro After 10 Years Yet another significant retail closure to tick off for the Castro neighborhood: Unionmade has closed both its men's and women's stores on 18th Street after a decade in business.
SF News Supervisors Pass Legislation Promoting Restaurant and Arts Uses For Upper Market Retail Spaces The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously passed new legislation that will hopefully make it simpler for small businesses — especially restaurants, galleries, and non-profits — to move into ground-floor spaces on Market Street in and around the Castro.
SF News Amid Multiple Closures, Hayes Valley's Well-Loved Retail Scene Seems To Be Suffering With the closure of Will Leather Goods, it seems like stores have only been closing in the neighborhood for months.
SF News Five Reasons Why The Castro And North Beach Have So Many Vacant Storefronts San Francisco's retail vacancy problem has become a source of persistent blight in the neighborhoods of North Beach and Castro over the last five years, despite a booming local economy. What gives?
SF News Walgreens Announces Plans To Shutter 600 Stores, Likely Including Some In SF Following their deal to acquire a portion of Rite Aid's store inventory, Walgreens announced this week that it plans to shutter 600 stores, most of them under the Rite Aid brand, but including
Arts & Entertainment The Mission Loses Another Bit Of Cool: 20-Year-Old Vintage/Wig Shop Retro Fit Gets 30-Day Notice First we lost Clothes Contact. Then we lost Multikulti, and Thrift Town. And now yet another funky vestige of the Mission of the 90s is going away: Retro Fit. BrokeAss Stuart breaks the
SF News Childhood Fave Jeffrey's Toys Set To Make A Return To San Francisco Jeffrey's Toys is set to make a return to San Francisco, two years after it closed its shop on Market Street. Hoodline reports that they're moving into a location at 45 Kearny Street
Arts & Entertainment Sad: Another Bookstore Nears Death As Aardvark Books' Building Goes Up For Sale Well loved Church Street new and used bookstore, Aardvark Books, will be calling it quits after 39 years at some point in the near future as the landlord is selling the building for
Arts & Entertainment [Updates] Apple Unveils New iPhone X, Series 3 Watch, iPhone 8, And Animoji! "I love hearing his voice, and I love hearing his message," said Apple CEO Tim Cook, coming out on stage at the new Steve Jobs Theater at Apple's new Cupertino campus just after
SF News Gap To Replace 200 Underperforming Stores With Old Navy And Athleta Locations Gap Inc. is making bold moves to address declining retail sales in their longstanding stalwart brands, Gap and Banana Republic, announcing Wednesday that they're closing 200 underperforming stores and will then open 270
Arts & Entertainment Haight Street Creepy Object Shop 'Loved To Death' To Cease Taxidermy Sales Loved To Death, the well-known taxidermy and oddities shop in the Upper Haight that is kind of like a more goth version of Paxton Gate, is shutting down its spinoff next-door gallery space
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink More Details On Plan To Turn Stonestown Macy's Into Multiplex Theater With Food Court We heard outlines of a plan a couple weeks ago by new property owner General Growth Properties (GGP) to redevelop the Macy's store at the Stonestown mall. Now the Chronicle gets a few
