RIP Franchises of our youths

[Drunk Monk]

Macy’s to close historic Union Square store

The Macy's Union Square location will close its doors, according to Supervisor Aaron Peskin. | Camille Cohen/The Standard
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By Kevin V. Nguyen, David Sjostedt, George Kelly, and Garrett LeahyUpdated Feb. 27, 2024 • 12:02pmPublished Feb. 27, 2024 • 10:19am
Macy's will close its flagship Union Square store, according to Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who said the company directly informed him Tuesday morning of its plans. 
The move comes after the retail giant announced it will close 150 stores, about 30% of its total locations, over the next three years—including 50 by year-end—due to flagging sales. 
Peskin said the historic store, which opened in 1947, will remain open until Macy's finds a buyer for the property it owns. The closure will affect about 400 jobs, according to a local Macy's workers' union.
"We are disappointed to hear about the closure of the historically significant store in Union Square," said United Food and Commercial Workers International Union President John Frahm. "We will do everything we can to ensure that the members of UFCW transition into good jobs."
During the holiday shopping season in 2022, all of the store's full-time retail employees—which include salespeople, cashiers and customer service representatives—all walked out of their jobs to strike against layoffs and cuts to benefits. 
"The situation is fluid, and there is no getting around the fact that this announcement hurts," said Marisa Rodriguez, CEO of the Union Square Alliance. "I believe that we should work toward a solution that allows Macy’s to keep this iconic store open."
Representatives from Macy's did not respond to a request for comment. Last month, it also eliminated 13% of its corporate staff. 
“We are making the necessary moves to reinvigorate relationships with our customers through improved shopping experiences, relevant assortments and compelling value,” said Macy’s CEO Tony Spring in a statement earlier this month.
The company also owns Bloomingdale's at the nearby San Francisco Centre mall, which has a lease that runs until 2046. 
Last year, the departure of Nordstrom from the shopping center set off another wave of mass exits from downtown San Francisco. Before that, a Whole Foods store closed a year after opening its doors on Eighth and Market streets.
Macy’s shopper Joe Martinez said he was saddened by the department store's closure, saying it was the latest in a series of shops that have closed in San Francisco.
When asked about the department store's closure, Macy’s shopper Joe Martinez said, "It sucks, man. We've lost a lot of good stores lately." | Source: Garrett Leahy/The Standard

“It sucks, man,” said Martinez, who moved to San Francisco from Los Angeles roughly one year ago. “We’ve lost a lot of good stores lately, like the Old Navy.”
Downtown San Francisco's central shopping district has struggled with viral robbery incidents and closures of prominent stores in recent years amid globally changing consumer habits accelerated by the pandemic.
'A lot of work to do'
State Sen. Scott Wiener said there is "a lot of work to do" in order to revitalize the city's downtown. 
“There will be an automatic narrative that this closure has something to do with San Francisco or with crime,” Wiener said. “But this is a mass closure. ... We need to aggressively and creatively reimagine the future of downtown SF, including Union Square.”
"It’s hard to think of Macy’s not being part of our city anymore," Mayor London Breed said in a statement. "Change is happening in San Francisco. This is why it’s so important we continue to make law changes at local and state levels, and that we reform our tax laws to recruit and retain businesses."

One of my good buddies from the Warfield/Fillmore crew worked there. He was the union shop steward for a spell.

[King Bob]

Haven't been to any of their stores in years; the one down here has been a dump for a long time. Big racks of unsorted clothes all over the place because they cut all the early morning recovery jobs. Classic big company move - eliminate the low-end jobs that actually do useful work, but not the redundant managers. (Even 40 years ago when I worked holidays there I could tell that there was too much management.) They will probably follow Emporium into oblivion.

We used to go to Macy's occasionally for housewares, but Target got better at that, although now Target pretty much sucks too. I still like Costco; I'm going to start buying underwear there since Target locks it up now, and you have to wait forever for anything locked up.

I'm starting to think that Wall Street is ruining pretty much everything by making businesses focus on short term stock price goals and completely ignoring customers and what they might actually want - like quality products and no hassles.

[Drunk Monk]

I still like Costco; I'm going to start buying underwear there since Target locks it up now, and you have to wait forever for anything locked up.

Underwear is locked up for good reason. Think about it. You really don't want to buy underwear that's been exposed to the general public on a daily basis. 

Lock it up!

[King Bob]

You do have a point there.

[Greg]

The underwear was born free. It has a right to live free.