The corporate vortex that sprung from downtown San Francisco now includes Office Depot and Anthropologie.
The Florida-based office supply retailer will close its store at 33 Third Street South of Market, and the Philadelphia-based clothing and home improvement chain will close its store at 880 Market Street in Union Square, San Francisco Chronicle reports.
A closing date for the Office Depot, a Hearst parking center, has not been announced. Anthropologie will close its store near the Powell Street cable car turnaround on May 13. The company also plans to close a store in Corte Madera.
The darkened stores will represent the latest retailers and restaurants to exit downtown this year as commuters and shoppers become less frequent in the age of remote work. The city has also lost tens of thousands of residents during the pandemic.
San Francisco, which has struggled to bounce back since the pandemic, is called “America’s emptiest downtown,” A third of the offices are now vacant.
Office Depot still operates a larger store at 3700 Geary Boulevard in Richmond, The Chronicle reported. The chain announced in February that it would close several stores this year, following 263 store closures in 2021 and 2022.
While Union Square Mall is starting to lose stores before the pandemicThe city has endured a series of high-profile closures that have brought national attention to crime and homelessness.
This month, Whole Foods Market packed up its premium groceries and closed its largest store in the city at 1177 Mid-Market Market Street, citing employee safety. The 65,000-square-foot flagship market has been open for a year.
Dilapidated Union Square has lost countless businesses, including The RealReal, which closed its first hometown brick-and-mortar location at 253 Post Street in February.
Crate & Barrel’s CB2 store in Union Square closed a month ago after Container Store, Marshalls, Gap, H&M and Abercrombie & Fitch pulled out.
A business downturn around Union Square has led London Mayor Breed and local businesses to push for zoning reforms to revitalize the upscale shopping district. The plan calls for removing zoning restrictions to attract more tenants, while adding housing and offices on higher floors.
— Dana Bartholomew
