#retail-decline

#retail-decline

Piles of folded sweaters and polo shirts cascaded into disorder, their tags boasting incremental markdowns that seemed to shout over one another. The escalator, unmaintained for close to a year, stood inert. Nervous-looking shoppers bouldered their way up its heavy corrugated steps in search of washrooms or the closest exit to the parking lot. All the beauty counters featured displays which had been denuded to East German levels of bare.

Economic uncertainty has pushed consumers to become far more selective with their spending, resulting in ongoing sales declines and reduced foot traffic for many retailers. This weakening demand has forced even the most established brands to close stores as they grapple with declining customer demand and the continued rise of online shopping. However, while many long-standing retailers struggle to stay afloat, a newer contender has emerged as a significant player in the industry.

Staff say the shop is the only non-sectarian Islamic bookshop and stocks all kinds of titles from politics and culture, to children's books and translations of the Qur'an in major languages. Since el-Atar's death in 2022, his widow Noora el-Atar, a 69-year-old Muslim convert from Leeds, has taken over, even giving up her wage and not taking retirement to keep the business afloat. The shop has launched a 25,000 fundraiser to cover rent and running costs.

Big chains Shake Shack and Panda Express are the last restaurants operating inside the mall's once-bustling lower level. This summer, Jamba Juice, Blondie's Pizza, Izzy & Wooks, Mija Cochinita, Umai Savory Hot Dogs, and Fires of Brazil Express closed within quick succession, according to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle. Blondie's Pizza relocated within SF, while Izzy & Wooks planned to relocate, too, the Chronicle reported. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.)

The brick-and-mortar locations that many of us would visit to pick up a new game or simply to wander around and kill some time are increasingly empty, destined for destruction or for uses far removed from what they were before. And as physical media continues to be squeezed out of gaming thanks to the convenience of digital distribution and silly

Target is in trouble. And while it's easy to get lost in the company's recent (poor) handling of American culture war narratives that cast it as too woke or too willing to cave to online fascists, the root of Target's problems runs deep. Don't get me wrong the massive consumer boycotts from Black organizers have done damage. And there are probably folks on the far right who think even Target's toned-down, overwhelmingly beige Pride merch this year was still too loud.

The most visible example of downtown SF's post-COVID malaise was the Westfield San Francisco Centre, which lost its Nordstrom and its Bloomingdale's.