Another retailer, Banana Republic, joined Nordstrom in exiting the Westfield San Francisco center.
The San Francisco-based Gap-owned clothing chain has left its indoor mall at 865 South Market Street, San Francisco Chronicle reports. The store opened in 2009.
The closing of the Westfield mall late last month was part of a plan to close 30 percent of its Gap and Banana Republic stores, the company said. Gap also cut 1,800 jobs.
“This closure is in support of efforts announced in October 2020 to optimize Banana Republic’s store count in North America,” a company spokesperson said.
Banana Republic also moved its flagship store from 256 Grant Avenue to Small shop at 152 Geary Street In the city center.
Dozens of stores around Union Square and Powell Streets have closed or are about to close ahead of the closure of Westfield Mall, including cocoa republic, Saxophone 5Uniqlo, H&M and anthropology. close a Whole Foods made national headlines last month.
They blame a decline in foot traffic in the age of remote work, fewer tourists, increased online shopping, and the need for Public Safety and Deteriorating Street Conditions.
Gap has closed stores at 890 Market Street, Embarcadero Center and Stonestown Galleria. It also closed the Athleta store in Union Square.
Westfield Mall outlet is its anchor tenant, Nordstrom, get ready to slip away From San Francisco’s largest mall, other stores are likely to leave when their leases end. The Nordstrom Rack across the street will be closing soon.
The lease for the 52,000-square-foot top floor of the Century Theater expires in September. The 25,300-square-foot H&M lease expires in January.
The mall, owned by Paris-based Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, had an occupancy rate of 53% at the end of last year and 74% at the end of 2021.
— Dana Bartholomew
