To be clear, if you read the article no one from Nordstrom says anything remotely close to that. They're closing the store because it's losing money, and it's losing money cause there's no foot traffic. The spokesman for Westfield the owner of the mall comes close when describing a "unsafe conditions" in the area.
That being said, if you read the transcript of the earnings call from four days ago they're also shuttering stores in Canada. They also do see unusually high levels of 'shrinkage' and theft, but within the levels that had been accounted for in their internal financial models. In the earnings call crime did come up but in the context of the mob smash and grab at the Topanga location in Los Angeles, and to his credit the CEO was more concerned about the safety of staff and shoppers, rather than property loss during this episode of organized looting.
So yeah, click-baity article, but Nordstrom never actually said what the article implies.
Surely most of us have seen videos of mobs of youths shoplifting/looting stores in broad daylight. This isn't individuals shoplifiting covertly or even breaking in under cover of darkness. It appears to be a new and more openly lawless kind of theft, and those involved are surely aware that the risk is minimal?
And the footage spreading on social media will be likely be encouraging copycat groups to do the same, or escalate to even more brazen activity.
(What's hard to tell, as somebody not in the affected areas, is how widespread this kind of crime is. Social media will always spread the most shocking footage to a large audience, but it can often be falsely labelled, potentally old footage from elsewhere, dishonestly edited, shared by people with agendas, etc)
Even if they're lying, SF seems to be in denial about the wasteland it's becoming. Everyone's got a list of things they blame, but no one seems to have a list of changes they're willing to make to correct it.
The store may or may not be telling the truth. Either way, it's undeniable that SF has changed dramatically over the last several years, with dramatic upswing in property crime and complete unwillingness on the part of law enforcement to fight it.
Also... I'm pretty sure seattle is their flagship store. Not sure why people are saying it's the tiny store in SF. Up in seattle talk about Nordstrom is how they're sort of failing to effectively compete in the modern retail environment (amazon, dollar tree, walmart, costco, etc.)
I always thought their niche was high touch service / moderately high price, bit peeps around town have mentioned they've been trying new models.
I'm sure crime doesn't help, but Nordstroms has been struggling since assuming debt for expansion in the 90s.
Yea, Nordstrom is supposed to be their high-touch high end, and Nordstrom Rack is supposed to still be high quality, but less high-touch. And they're trying to figure out the right mix without diluting brand.
I think I good question we can ask, are any major brands building new stores in San Francisco? That would be a good indicator of whether or not brands see the market as too-risky or that Nordstrom is using a convenient scapegoat.
I’m asking here the locals here, I haven’t been to the city in over 20 years so I haven’t the slightest idea.
Not SF, but similar problem Seattle just got a Uniglo downtown (ironically in the old Macy’s/Bon Marche building). After losing more than a few brands this year (eg Nike), having a new one pop up was notable.
