Banana Republic has left its downtown San Francisco location — the second major closure to hit the headlines this week, as an exodus of large retailers from the once-posh shopping district continues.
As Breitbart News reported earlier this week, the Williams-Sonoma kitchen and furnishings store is set to leave Union Square by next year. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday that Banana Republic is leaving the area as well (original links):
Banana Republic has closed in the Westfield San Francisco Centre, the same mall where Nordstrom is also departing.
The clothing store, which opened in 2009, is one of the numerous locations owned by San Francisco-based parent Gap that have shuttered during the pandemic. Gap is also implementing corporate layoffs affecting around 1,800 workers.
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Dozens of retailers have closed or plan to in the Powell Street and Union Square area, including Coco Republic, Saks Off Fifth, Uniqlo, H&M and Anthropologie. They’ve cited falling foot traffic due to remote work and a lack of tourists, online shopping and safety concerns as factors.
Banana Republic is not leaving the city entirely, but is moving its flagship store on Grant St. to a smaller space, the Chronicle added.
The Nordstrom closure to which the Chronicle referred was reported by Breitbart News last month — and was dismissed by some left-wing pundits, who cast doubt on the company’s claim that local conditions had changed.
Meanwhile, San Francisco Mayor London Breed called Wednesday for the state to bail out the city’s ailing public transportation network in an effort to save the downtown from collapse. She has also asked for federal help in fighting the city’s infamous drug problem, though critics say that she is not acting quickly enough to shut down the open-air drug markets that have sprung up around the city, according to the Chronicle.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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