Retail reminiscing
What’s shopping like now in downtown San Francisco?
Stores have always opened and closed in Union Square, but retail San Francisco nowadays needs a lifeline.
By Katie Sweeney
People tell me San Francisco is dead — a veritable ghost town in the making. We’ve lost Nordstrom, Brooks Brothers, Whole Foods, The North Face, and many more. If it’s not barren streets then it’s accusations of feces and needles. Do you really think we’re just a zombie wasteland covered in trash?
I took a stroll recently and found clean streets, tight security, and a police presence. The rampant closures definitely cast a pall, but there were no crowds, and homeless riff-raffery was almost non-existent. I heard the doom loop may claim Zara next, so I headed there first.
“When are you closing?” I blurt out to the security guard as I walk inside.
“8 p.m.,” he promptly replies, causing me to laugh.
“No, I meant, when are you closing for good? The store?” No news on that yet, he said. The rest of the trip is less lucrative: I wanted new brushes from Mac, but it’s no longer there. I tried to get a few prerolls at the dispensary, but it’s closed, too. In terms of storefronts, it’s the ghost town they say it is. Express, Gap, Forever 21, and Anthropologie — all places where I used to shop are gone. Urban Outfitters and Sephora remain.
I’ve loved shopping in downtown San Francisco my entire life. My mother insisted on Macy’s, but I preferred the golden spiral staircase at Nordstrom. I wanted Saks, Neimans, and the other luxury shops lining the glamorous streets of Union Square, but didn’t taste them until my first job, an internship at an advertising agency on Maiden Lane, arguably the area’s best street.
I spent my lunch at Hermes, Chanel, and Yves Saint Laurent. Diesel was a quick five-minute walk away, and I was there so often browsing the sale racks for new treasures that I befriended an employee. He invited me to several in-store events, showing me the life of a stylish socialite — one I set out to emulate.
In my college years, I hopped on BART from UC Berkeley to grab an important look from downtown SF; My pointy-toed, Steve Madden high-heeled pumps still live in my closet from my 21st birthday. That’s the thing about a world-class shopping destination: You can’t buy happiness but retail therapy never leaves you. Shopping is a high I’m still chasing.
Years passed but I still shopped in Union Square weekly. I was an avid Rent-the-Runway member and treated their Grant Street boutique like my closet; I’d sport a Tory Burch dress to an event then exchange it for a sexy ALC number to wear out that evening — rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat.
I revisited shopping once lockdown ended, but so many places vanished by then. Stores always open and close in Union Square, but retail San Francisco nowadays needs a lifeline.
At Bloomingdale’s, I’m delighted to find an almost empty department store during my recent adventure. But as I walk around the empty mall with too many vacant facades, I can’t help but feel sad. How could this have happened?
I leave the mall and wander up Market Street, getting more distraught as I pass the former locations of Nordstrom Rack and Saks Off 5th — places where I had found so many fashion treasures.
Sorrow fills my heart, but I look up, and something catches my eye. It is the sign for the new IKEA, and the adjacent food hall had opened earlier in the week. I feel much better sitting at the Lagom Bar nursing a spritz. I realize there will always be a new place to check out — even if it is just an IKEA — and thankfully, there will always be a new restaurant nearby to try, too.
Although my shopping trip felt like a failure and the lack of boutiques is upsetting, Union Square and its surrounding streets will always be my fashion home.
Katie Sweeney is a San Francisco-based writer.
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