The Safeway grocery store chain has introduced that it’ll shut down one in every of its key areas in San Francisco in February resulting from considerations that clients and staff had been in danger from rampant theft and threats to their security.
The closure, which had been delay for 11 months, will have an effect on the Safeway retailer on Webster Avenue within the Fillmore part of San Francisco, which had been working for the final 40 years.
The corporate mentioned that the shop will shut for good on Feb. 7, in keeping with the San Francisco Chronicle.
Final month, stunning photos surfaced displaying a California man assaulting a feminine worker at a special Safeway location in San Francisco.
Safeway joins a listing of big-name retailers which have shuttered shops within the metropolis, which has been plagued in recent times by an alarming decline within the high quality of life in addition to stubbornly excessive value of dwelling, hovering taxes and elevated incidents of organized retail theft, homelessness and public drug use.
Adidas, Macy’s, Zara, Nordstrom, Previous Navy, Sephora, Hollister, Aldo, J. Crew and Entire Meals are among the many model names which have both introduced retailer closures or which have already shrunken their footprint within the metropolis.
Safeway, a subsidiary of the Albertsons grocery store conglomerate, instructed the Chronicle that it was “proud” of its historical past of servicing the Fillmore and Japantown neighborhoods of town over the course of 4 many years.
The corporate mentioned it initially supposed to shut the shop earlier this 12 months however delay the transfer in order to “present a larger transition interval for the neighborhood.”
Safeway mentioned the choice was made “resulting from ongoing considerations about affiliate and buyer security, in addition to persistent points with theft.”
Locals within the space have continuously complained to police about automotive break-ins, assaults, loitering and unlawful dumping, in keeping with the Chronicle.
All the retailer’s unionized staff shall be reassigned to a number of of the 15 supermarkets that it operates all through San Francisco, the corporate mentioned.
“We stay dedicated to serving San Francisco at our 15 remaining areas, and to make sure that our unionized workforce can carry out their jobs in protected and safe working environments,” Safeway instructed the Chronicle.
Neighborhood residents waged a fierce public marketing campaign to foyer the corporate to not shutter the shop again in March, as was initially supposed.
Native leaders have warned that Safeway’s departure would adversely affect different companies within the space whereas leaving residents with a dearth of grocers inside strolling distance.
Safeway instructed the Chronicle that it was “actively engaged on a transition plan to make sure a easy and safe closure of the shop, whereas permitting for continued entry and site visitors stream to neighboring companies.”
“These are troublesome selections we make as a enterprise with greater than 255 shops throughout Northern California, and we don’t take it evenly,” the shop mentioned in an announcement.
“We respect the time and sources you’ve invested in attempting to assist us discover a solution to keep open, however sadly, the challenges we face are too nice to beat.”
San Francisco’s outgoing Mayor London Breed mentioned she was “saddened” by the announcement, saying the Safeway “has performed a central position in bringing neighborhood collectively.”
Daniel Lurie, the mayor-elect and Levi Strauss inheritor who defeated Breed, has pledged to beef up town’s police presence and to close down open-air drug market. He shall be sworn in as mayor on Jan. 8.
The Publish has sought remark from Safeway, Breed and Lurie.
