Crime-Ridden San Francisco Seeks To Allow Lawsuits Against Grocery Stores Fleeing The City As Mass Corporate Exodus Continues
byCaleb Naysmith, Benzinga Editorhttps://twitter.com/ccnaysmith
April 12, 2024 9:13 AM
San Francisco has long been feared to be falling into a doom loop, a situation where taxpayers leaving the crime-ridden city results in lower tax revenues leading to cuts in services and rising taxes, making it even less desirable to live in.
It can be especially devastating when a community's essential businesses, such as grocery stores, decide to leave.
San Francisco experienced this last year when Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)-owned Whole Foods Market Inc. shut down its flagship store in the city after being open for just over a year, citing employee safety concerns.
Nearly 570 emergency calls were reported from the location in that period, including desperate pleas to police saying "male [with] machete is back," and "another security guard was just assaulted."
At the time, San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Matt Dorsey said he was "incredibly disappointed" with the store closing.
"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.
Now, politicians are attempting to fight back.
Dean Preston, another member of the Board of Supervisors, recently introduced a proposal called the Grocery Protection Act, which would require a closing store to provide the city six months’ notice and try to find a replacement supermarket for the location it’s vacating.
Elaborating on his proposal, Preston said, "Our communities need notice, an opportunity to be heard and a transition plan when major neighborhood grocery stores plan to shut their doors."
According to the proposal, anyone impacted by a non complying grocery store could initiate legal proceedings.
It’s not just grocery stores that have had enough of the city. Other large businesses that recently closed their downtown San Francisco locations include Adidas, AT&T Inc., Nordstrom and Lego Group.
