Seven (!) Starbucks Closing in SF is Demise of Downtown Culture

Starbucks is pulling out of much of San Francisco’s downtown Financial District, closing locations in the same area plagued by record-high vacant office space. [First reported by Business Times, and also here]. To some, Starbucks’ leaving is a good thing, pointing to perceived coffee shop over saturation, and the purists opposing Big Coffee’s cornering the market anyway. Make room for indie roasters, many say. But this news goes far beyond a personal choice for java.

First, there is the obvious: shops closing leads to loss of jobs, of tax revenue and boarded up storefronts attract graffiti. Blight is always a problem for a struggling city and landlords are under further pressure to rent to new occupants. The effect on a local economy is very palpable.

Then, there is a deeper message: the cafe trend over past years, even decades, was a mainstay of city office culture, first date culture, even remote work culture: Wi-Fi for tourists; businessmen chatting during mid-afternoon breaks away from their desks, headed to fill the nearest Starbucks; meeting a friend to vent about a relationship; eager job applicants interviewing via Zoom. Starbucks became the measure of a city’s vibrancy, excitement and success.

Mayor London Breed imposed, arguably, the toughest and most prolonged lockdowns for Covid in America, with disastrous results. Barring public gatherings for months longer than necessary has clearly taken its toll. While other cities across the nation survived, even thrived, Breed’s San Francisco gasped for air, and still does. Coupled with her eagerness in 2020 to defund our police department by taking $120 million from their budget, as well as pushing to remove any mandated minimum staff levels of police officers, her decisions created much of the economic disaster we San Franciscans are experiencing today. Add to this, her insane record-high annual city budget of $14.6 Billion when we can’t afford it (and shouldn’t afford, either). Homelessness, tent encampments, mentally ill addicts roaming the streets day and night, often sleeping in Starbucks shops, some bathing in the toilets, if not partaking in their drug of choice. With offices vacant, the customers stopped coming. Tourists were understandably chased away by concerns for safety. Remote workers preferred to be even further remote.

In this most unfortunate case of San Francisco’s further economic collapse, Starbucks’ closures are more proof; businesses leaving are yet another feature, not a bug – with all roads leading to the failures of Mayor London Breed.