Whole Foods closes flagship San Francisco store due to crime just one year after opening

SAN FRANCISCO (TND) — Just one year after opening an enormous flagship store in downtown San Francisco, retail giant Whole Foods is shutting down the location due to an abundance of crime in the area.

A spokesperson for the company tells The National Desk (TND) that the almost 65,000-square-foot store at Trinity Place in the California city's Mid-Market neighborhood has ceased operations and closed its doors to "ensure the safety" of its work staff.

To ensure the safety of our Team Members, we have made the difficult decision to close the Trinity store for the time being," the spokesperson told TND. "All Team Members will be transferred to one of our nearby locations."

The store was heralded as Whole Foods' "flagship store" when it opened in March 2022 and was one of downtown San Francisco's largest supermarkets.

The Whole Foods location had reportedly already reduced its operating hours due to theft. Bathrooms at the location were also restricted after workers found drug paraphernalia, including pipes and syringes, the San Francisco Standard reports.

Rampant drug use and increasing levels of crime in the store's surrounding area prompted the decision, a source in San Francisco's city hall reportedly said. A website for the store's location has also been taken down, leading now only to a "store locator" page.

San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Matt Dorsey said that he was "incredibly disappointed" but "sadly unsurprised" by the store's closure.

Our neighborhood waited a long time for this supermarket, but we’re also well aware of problems they’ve experienced with drug-related retail theft, adjacent drug markets, and the many safety issues related to them," Dorsey said in a tweet.

Dorsey also added in his Twitter thread that he was drafting new legislation to get the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) fully staffed within the next five years. The San Francisco Standard says the police department has been down 335 officers since 2017.

Whole Foods is apparently not the only business in San Francisco to be struggling with crime in the area, as a collation of about 135 businesses and property owners in the city have all signed a petition demanding "a full and complete refund" on city taxes they paid in 2022 over issues with criminals and also cleanliness.

It is clear the state of the neighborhood is declining,” The Tenderloin Business Coalition's petition reads. “[T]his is a violation of the City’s implicit bargain with the taxpayer: pay your taxes and the city will ensure safe streets.”

Our customers are unwilling to enter the neighborhood to patronize our businesses,” the petition continues. “The result is a catastrophic loss of revenue for the small businesses that are vital to the health and safety of the neighborhood. Due to this untenable situation, businesses are closing and there is a real and palpable fear that the neighborhood is now on the verge of collapse."

San Francisco has also considered scaling back its "sanctuary city" status, which prohibits the city from using resources to enforce federal immigration law, as the city deals with a spike in crime and drug overdose deaths.

One San Francisco official, Supervisor Hillary Ronen, has openly pleaded with the SFPD for more officers in her district despite her push to "defund police" in the past.

I've been begging this department to give the Mission what it deserves in terms of police presence, all year long. And I've been told time-and-time-and-time-and-time again there are no officers that we can send to Mission. And then I see these numbers protecting shoppers, and it hurts. It hurts. And I feel betrayed by the department, I feel betrayed by the mayor, I feel betrayed by the priorities of this city," Ronen said.

Whole Foods told TND that when they "feel" they can "ensure the safety of our Team Members in the store, we will evaluate a reopening of the location."