The San Francisco Centre, formerly known as Westfield, in downtown San Francisco has seen better days. Many of its stores are now vacant. Its anchor store, Nordstroms, closed last year. Cinemark theater also closed last year.
The video below was shot on Sunday, Dec. 22. It shows sparce crowds in the mall.
The shopping center has been hit with rampant shoplifting that has shown no signs of slowing down despite the passage of proposition 36 which increases the penalty for shoplifting.
Nearby Union Square’s Winter Walk’s last night was on Sunday, Dec. 22. It drew a sizeable crowd but most of the stores around Union Square are vacant. The city’s busiest retail corner at Powell and Market is blighted with vacant storefronts. Gap’s flagship store at Powell and Market closed in 2020. Many remember that corner being occupied by Woolworth’s store for decades.
Macy’s, Union Square’s largest store, is scheduled to close next year. Shoplifting has become routine there. Virtually none of the shoplifters at that store are arrested or even detained.