Declining foot traffic generates uncertainty about mall’s future
A person seated on a chair stares down into the mall from inside the recently-shuttered Nordstrom store in the Westfield San Francisco Centre on August 28, 2023 in San Francisco, Calif.
Dan Hernandez / Journalism 250, SF State
Amid a rough period for San Francisco retail, where theft and dozens of stores are closing, the Westfield Centre mall in the heart of the city’s shopping district has been making rounds in the news. From recently announcing that the company has turned ownership back over to the bank and is departing from the mall to Nordstrom closing its store earlier this week.
The escalators that once led up to the multi-level Nordstrom store, which occupied the space for nearly three decades, are now blocked by caution tape and a paper sign that alerts shoppers of the store’s closing.
Many of the storefronts that lined the rotunda-style mall are shuttered as well, but the businesses that remain open wonder what the future may hold for retail operations.
Vivian Tran is the owner of Joy Reserve, a new-concept cannabis showroom on the second level of the mall adjacent to the entrance of Bloomingdales. She has operated her business inside the mall since 2021.
While she has noticed a decline in foot traffic since the closing of Nordstrom, she notes that the mall’s management since Westfield’s withdrawal from ownership has been lackluster in efforts to attract more customers.
“That’s the whole point of being in a mall because it generates higher foot traffic and that’s why we’re paying a higher price for our rent space,” said Tran. She wondered what is the point of staying at Westfield if running her shop inside of a mall is not supporting her business.
Tran said her shop experiences its highest foot traffic periods when conventions are being held in and music festivals are being held near downtown. But aside from evenings, visits to her shop have been steadily declining.
She hopes to keep Joy Reserve in Westfield but said that she feels uncertain about where the mall is headed since there is no clear sight for who may take ownership of the mall.
“We’re left in the dark,” said Tran. “We do believe in the success of this model that we have built so far.”
Her store offers an interactive and accessible educational experience to cannabis-based products and connects prospective customers to delivery vendors. While higher-profile businesses around the mall have private security guarding storefronts, Joy Reserve does not.
“Because of how we are set up, there is no live product on the floor,” said Tran. The store does not have any actual cannabis products, most of the boxes on shelves are just for display which Tran said deters theft. “If they take it, it’s just an empty bag and they won’t try again.”
Below Nordstrom and alongside other shuttered businesses, Hollister sits on the other side of the mall. A usual popular clothing store, it has started to see the effects from the mall’s changes.
Brooke Price has worked as a security guard for Hollister for the past six months. He has taken notice that the summer and back-to-school seasons have been the busiest periods that the store has seen, but foot traffic has been dwindling since then.
Between customers and people that go to glance around, Price has encountered an increase in theft.
“This morning I had to stop somebody from shoplifting,” said Price. For him, it’s a daily occurrence.
The escalators that once led up to the multi-level Nordstrom store, which occupied the space for nearly three decades, are now blocked by caution tape and a paper sign that alerts shoppers of the store’s closing.
Many of the storefronts that lined the rotunda-style mall are shuttered as well, but the businesses that remain open wonder what the future may hold for retail operations.
Vivian Tran is the owner of Joy Reserve, a new-concept cannabis showroom on the second level of the mall adjacent to the entrance of Bloomingdales. She has operated her business inside the mall since 2021.
While she has noticed a decline in foot traffic since the closing of Nordstrom, she notes that the mall’s management since Westfield’s withdrawal from ownership has been lackluster in efforts to attract more customers.
“That’s the whole point of being in a mall because it generates higher foot traffic and that’s why we’re paying a higher price for our rent space,” said Tran. She wondered what is the point of staying at Westfield if running her shop inside of a mall is not supporting her business.
Tran said her shop experiences its highest foot traffic periods when conventions are being held in and music festivals are being held near downtown. But aside from evenings, visits to her shop have been steadily declining.
She hopes to keep Joy Reserve in Westfield but said that she feels uncertain about where the mall is headed since there is no clear sight for who may take ownership of the mall.
“We’re left in the dark,” said Tran. “We do believe in the success of this model that we have built so far.”
Her store offers an interactive and accessible educational experience to cannabis-based products and connects prospective customers to delivery vendors. While higher-profile businesses around the mall have private security guarding storefronts, Joy Reserve does not.
“Because of how we are set up, there is no live product on the floor,” said Tran. The store does not have any actual cannabis products, most of the boxes on shelves are just for display which Tran said deters theft. “If they take it, it’s just an empty bag and they won’t try again.”
Below Nordstrom and alongside other shuttered businesses, Hollister sits on the other side of the mall. A usual popular clothing store, it has started to see the effects from the mall’s changes.
Brooke Price has worked as a security guard for Hollister for the past six months. He has taken notice that the summer and back-to-school seasons have been the busiest periods that the store has seen, but foot traffic has been dwindling since then.
Between customers and people that go to glance around, Price has encountered an increase in theft.
“This morning I had to stop somebody from shoplifting,” said Price. For him, it’s a daily occurrence.
Across from Hollister is a newer fashionwear storefront. Psycho Bunny opened its brick-and-mortar shop inside Westfield in 2021.
Kayleen Corpuz is a retail associate at Psycho Bunny who has been working there since March. Since her time working there, the store hired a security guard and she’s noticed that the mall increased its security presence.
“I used to watch guys have a full stack of T-shirts, just out in the open walking through the mall,” said Corpuz. But recently, she’s noticed that the demographic of shoplifters shifted from unhoused persons to teenagers casually walking out while trying on clothes.
She feels that since the announcement of Westfield’s departure from the mall, there has been a decline in foot traffic because she thinks most people have assumed the mall is already closed.
“It’s unpredictable. The number of people who come in and out of the mall are a majority of tourists instead of regular shoppers,” said Corpuz.
Corpuz and her coworkers are left feeling uncertain about Psycho Bunny’s presence in the mall because they have received no communication from their management about what is to come.
For now, workers are continuing to do their jobs as normal. Price keeps his job because it is a steady form of income, but he feels uncertain what will happen to the mall if it continues on the trend it has been headed.
“It’s a never-ending story here. This is downtown San Francisco,” said Price.
Kayleen Corpuz is a retail associate at Psycho Bunny who has been working there since March. Since her time working there, the store hired a security guard and she’s noticed that the mall increased its security presence.
“I used to watch guys have a full stack of T-shirts, just out in the open walking through the mall,” said Corpuz. But recently, she’s noticed that the demographic of shoplifters shifted from unhoused persons to teenagers casually walking out while trying on clothes.
She feels that since the announcement of Westfield’s departure from the mall, there has been a decline in foot traffic because she thinks most people have assumed the mall is already closed.
“It’s unpredictable. The number of people who come in and out of the mall are a majority of tourists instead of regular shoppers,” said Corpuz.
Corpuz and her coworkers are left feeling uncertain about Psycho Bunny’s presence in the mall because they have received no communication from their management about what is to come.
For now, workers are continuing to do their jobs as normal. Price keeps his job because it is a steady form of income, but he feels uncertain what will happen to the mall if it continues on the trend it has been headed.
“It’s a never-ending story here. This is downtown San Francisco,” said Price.