San Francisco’s largest mall abruptly closes for good, sooner than expected
San Francisco’s beleaguered Westfield San Francisco Centre shopping mall closed its doors earlier than expected.
The city's largest mall, which saw a string of retailers leave in recent months, closed on Saturday, two days ahead of schedule, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
A sign reading "closed until further notice" was posted at the front entrance of the once-bustling shopping center, the outlet reported.
An employee at the mall’s last remaining tenant, shoe store Ecco, told the outlet that the store and mall had permanently shuttered earlier than expected.
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Tenants, including its anchor stores, had been packing up and leaving the mall in recent years with a surge of brands leaving in the past few months.
In early December, Shake Shack confirmed it was closing up its shop inside the mall as new owners take over.
A Nov. 25 filing with state labor officials revealed that the fast-food chain will permanently close its location inside the Westfield San Francisco Centre on Market Street on Dec. 14, a move that will impact 26 employees.
Shake Shack told FOX Business that San Francisco Centre, which has been plagued by soaring vacancies and a string of departures by major retailers, was sold to a new owner that is requiring all tenants to vacate the premises.
The remaining tenants were also issued notices from the property management’s legal counsel, informing them that their leases were "extinguished" by a recent ownership change, and they needed to vacate immediately, according to the San Francisco Business Times.
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The mall’s new owner is an LLC known as DBJPM 2016-SFC Emporium. The new owners assumed control following a foreclosure auction on Nov. 12 that transferred the property away from its former operators, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and Brookfield Properties, The Real Deal reported. The previous owners defaulted on the loan and effectively walked away from the site in 2023.
Between 2020 and 2023, the mall lost 46% of its stores, The San Francisco Standard reported. That includes its anchor department store, Nordstrom, which announced in 2023 that it would close both of its downtown San Francisco locations, including its flagship store inside the Westfield San Francisco Centre.
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The mall's other anchor tenant, Bloomingdale's, left in early 2025. Anchor tenants in malls are key to the success of the mall given that they’re traffic engines. When anchors close up shop, it undermines viability for the remaining retailers because foot traffic drops sharply.