T-Mobile closing flagship store after city became ‘unsafe’ with ‘rampant criminal activity’

T-MOBILE has closed its flagship retail location in one of the nation’s biggest cities as foot traffic and demand for retail space there is dropping.

The cell phone company shuttered its store in the Union Square section of San Francisco about a month ago.

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There are no plans to re-open the location, SFGATE reported.

“We recently reshaped our retail strategy,” a spokesperson for T-Mobile told the outlet in a statement.

“Employees have been offered roles within the company.”

Demand for commercial real estate in many parts of San Francisco has dropped drastically in the wake of the pandemic.

Many office spaces have been left vacant as retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue, Anthropologie and Nordstrom have closed their locations in the city’s Dowtown.

“Lack of enforcement against rampant criminal activity,” is to blame for the closures, mall operator Westfield told the San Francisco Chronicle.

The company used to house the now-closed Nordstrom in its Union Square shopping center.

“Retailers and businesses are leaving the area due to the unsafe conditions for customers, retailers, and employees, coupled,” Westfield said.

“These significant issues are preventing an economic recovery of the area.”

Many others in San Francisco are concerned about high crime rates.

There have been 19 murders in the city so far this year, which is six more than the number at this point in 2019, the San Francisco Police Department reported.

But other types of crime are down.

There have been 897 robberies so far in 2023, down from 961 at this point in 2019, and 10,571 instances of larceny, down from 12,882.

The city government has mounted a plan to fill the growing number of vacancies downtown.

“The challenges facing Downtown require us to imagine what is possible and create the foundation for a stronger, more resilient future,” Mayor London Breed said in a statement.

“These changes shouldn’t be something that requires granting exceptions through lengthy paperwork and exhaustive public hearings. We need to make the process easier for getting our buildings active and full.”

T-Mobile and the mayor’s office did not immediately respond to The U.S. Sun’s requests for comment.

https://www.the-sun.com/news/8071537/t-mobile-closes-flagship-store-san-francisco/