AT&T becomes latest San Francisco casualty: Telecommunications giant shuts flagship store
AT&T will close it flagship store at 1 Powell Street in San Francisco's downtown
AT&T has announced that it is shuttering its flagship store in downtown San Francisco in yet another blow to the city's struggling retail sector.
The store at 1 Powell Street in the city's Union Square shopping district is one of the largest in the country and will close on August 1, a spokesperson confirmed.
It is the latest episode in San Francisco's retail apocalypse, which has seen numerous high street retailers abandon the city's downtown area amid rising theft and homelessness, which has also driven away customers.
But the closure is also part of a wider trend for the telecommunications giant, which is also closing a store in Chicago. This will leave the company with only on flagship store in the country in Dallas.
'Consumer shopping habits continue to change, and we're changing with them,' AT&T spokesperson Chris Collins said on Thursday.
AT&T has announced that it will close its flagship store in downtown San Francisco
The store at 1 Powell Street in the city's Union Square shopping district is one of the largest in the country
'That means serving customers where they are through the right mix of retail stores, digital channels and our phone-based care team.'
Collins made assurances that employees would not be made redundant.
'We are proud of our continued presence in the community, not only through our retail stores and our local investment in world-class connectivity with our 5G and fiber networks,' said Collins.
'All retail employees affected by this change will be offered jobs at one of our other many retail locations within the city.'
The closure comes a day after Cinemark announced plans to shutter its theater in the Westfield Mall and reports that Westfield said it closing the mall altogether.
Last week a report by the San Francisco Standard Around found that 46 percent of stores in downtown San Francisco's Westfield mall have closed since 2020.
Major retailers to have abandoned the mall since 2020 include: Abercrombie & Fitch, Banana Republic, Microsoft, Tiffany & Co. and Timberland
Around 46 percent of stores - 45 out of 97 - in Westfield San Francisco Centre have closed since 2020, according to an analysis by the San Francisco Standard
A total of 45 out of the 97 retailers operating in the mall - and 16 of the 36 food vendors - shuttered in just over three years
Other major retailers to have abandoned the mall since 2020 include: Abercrombie & Fitch, Banana Republic, Microsoft, Tiffany & Co. and Timberland.
Last month, Westfield blamed 'unsafe conditions' and 'lack of enforcement against rampant criminal activity' in large part for Nordstrom's departure and claimed the poor performance in San Francisco was in sharp contrast to its other locations.
Whole Foods, Old Navy, Gap and Office Depot are just some of the stores in the district to announce in recent months that they are closing in the shopping.
Out of 203 retailers open in 2019 in the city's Union Square area, just 107 are still operating - a drop of 47 percent in just a few pandemic-ravaged years.
San Francisco is now widely thought to be stuck in a vicious cycle.
Office workers are now working from home, leaving the downtown area significantly quieter, and making the empty streets more dangerous. The rise in crime then deters people from entering downtown.
And as the downtown empties, the city loses essential tax revenues, and the area becomes less appealing.
The revenue loss to the city caused by decreased property taxes could reach $196 million per year by 2028, according to modeling published in November by the San Francisco Controller's Office.
The best-case scenario from the modeling expects the cost will be nearer to $100 million per year.
The number of homeless people in San Francisco was tallied in February of last year at almost 8,000
A significant handful of high-profile criminal episodes, in addition to a number of retail closures prompted by rampant and unprosecuted theft, have tarnished the city's image to potential visitors.
Tech exec Bob Lee became one of the city's latest murder victims. Lee, 43, was allegedly murdered by another tech executive on April 4.
The number of homeless people in San Francisco was tallied in February of last year at almost 8,000, the second highest figure of any year since 2005, according to the official government count which takes place every three years.
San Francisco saw a 41 percent surge in the number of drug-related deaths in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same time last year, as fentanyl devastated the city's homeless population.
Source: Daily Mail
