Back in March 2022, WFM opened its flagship Trinity location in San Francisco's downtown district. However, branch management decided to close the store at the end of the April 10 business day. The Trinity WFM location only operated for a total of 13 months before shuttering its doors.
"To ensure the safety of our team members, we have made the difficult decision to close the Trinity store for the time being. All team members will be transferred to one of our nearby locations," a spokesperson for the Jeff Bezos-owned grocery told Newsweek.
Another WFM representative told the San Francisco Standard: "We are closing our Trinity location only for the time being. If we feel we can ensure the safety of our team members in the store, we will evaluate a reopening of our Trinity location."
But an unnamed source from the City and County of San Francisco disclosed to the newspaper that WFM officials cited the level of crime and open drug use in the area as a key reason for its closure.
An anonymous manager attested to the City Hall tipster's remarks, telling the Standard that the Trinity WFM location had already cut its opening hours in October 2022. The reduced business hours came amid high levels of retail theft and frequent instances of troublemakers. The next month, managers were forced to implement stricter rules around access to its restrooms after staff members found syringes and pipes left behind by drug users.
Regular customer Allyn Mejia lamented the sudden closure of WFM. "They just barely opened up," she said. "I hope they open again."
However, Mejia was not surprised that safety concerns contributed to the store's premature closure. "I've seen security run into the store real quick before like 'something happened,'" Mejia said.
Walmart closing down its stores in Portland
WFM is not the only grocery chain that shuttered its locations in a liberal city riddled with drugs and crime. Even big-box retailer Walmart closed down its locations in Portland, which is in a similar predicament as San Francisco. In fact, the last two Walmart locations in the City of Roses closed for good at the end of March.
Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse Blog expounded on Walmart's departure from Portland in a March 3 piece. He mentioned that despite Portland's population of more than 641,000 within its limits, Walmart realized that the safety of their employees is not worth risking for potential profit. With the closure of the last two stores on March 24, Snyder pointed out that there will be no more Walmart locations in the city. (Related: CITY IN COLLAPSE: Every Walmart in Portland is closing as anti-cop city leaders allow rampant crime to annihilate retailers.)
A spokesperson for the big-box retailer explained that the decision to close the stores was due to their failure to meet financial expectations after a careful review of their overall performance.
"We consider many factors – including current and projected financial performance, location, population, customer needs and the proximity of other nearby stores – when making these difficult decisions. After we decide to move forward, our focus is on our associates and their transition, which is the case here," the spokesperson said.
But one customer interviewed about the closings minced no words and addressed the real reason why Walmart is leaving. "We [got to] resolve the shoplifting one way or another, because that is simply the problem. It's [got to] stop," the customer said.
Snyder concluded his piece by saying that "Portland has been transformed into a complete and utter hellhole, and apparently Walmart executives have determined that things are not going to turn around any time soon."
Watch this segment from the Fox News program "The Five" about Whole Foods Market's closure in San Francisco.
This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.
More related stories:
California DA: SHOPLIFTING in the Golden State is out of control, soft-on-crime policies to blame.
Retailers, businesses continue to flee Portland due to rampant violence, theft and lawlessness.
Why is every Walmart in the entire city of Portland being permanently shut down?
Walgreens closing 5 more San Francisco stores due to organized shoplifting.
Businesses continue to shutter in San Francisco due to rampant shoplifting.
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