Supermarket chain's closure jolts San Francisco

Downtown San Francisco — which has experienced a large drop in activity with the rise in remote working and a subsequent increase in crime — has taken another hit as the Whole Foods supermarket chain abruptly closed its flagship store over public safety concerns.

Whole Foods, owned by e-commerce giant Amazon, confirmed the closure of its Trinity Place store, which happened on Monday.

"We are closing our Trinity location only for the time being. … If we feel we can ensure the safety of our team members at the store, we will evaluate the reopening of our Trinity location."

Rampant shoplifting and frequent visits to store restrooms by drug users, who left syringes and pipes behind, were factors in the decision. The store initially reduced its hours, then deployed three security guards on a daily basis, one of whom was assigned to monitor customers who wanted to use the restroom.

Athena Dai, a data scientist based in downtown San Francisco, said she once loved to go to Whole Foods to "grab a lunch and a cup of coffee", but stopped doing so because she witnessed a theft in February.

"A man quickly filled his huge, huge backpack by wiping groceries from the shelf. He then elbowed a security guard down and rushed out," Dai said. "I didn't even realize what was happening until I heard the store staff screaming, trying to stop the well-built thief. He was literally 30, 40 inches away from where I stood."

"Downtown SF looks like a zombie apocalypse. People who've not been there have no idea," Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter, wrote on the social media site.

The Bay Area has experienced a nearly fivefold increase in remote workers. Businesses throughout downtown San Francisco have closed, and the city's economic recovery ranks 24th out of 25 large US cities, according to Time.com.

In the first quarter of the year, office vacancies were the highest-ever recorded, according to real estate broker CBRE, reported The San Francisco Standard website.

The San Francisco Police Department recorded a 23 percent increase in property crimes between 2020 and 2022, with sharp jumps in burglary and theft. The homicide rate, however, has not risen substantially.

Alok Gupta, who runs an electronics gadget shop on Market Street adjacent to the Whole Foods store, said street crimes are "everyday episodes".