DECLINE IS A CHOICE: Emails show what was behind closure of San Francisco mall.
People are still going to the mall, just not in downtown San Francisco. An hour south in more suburban San Jose the Westfield owned mall is booming:
“Westfield Valley Fair in San Jose has begun to attract visitors and retail activity at levels that top the big shopping mall’s activity even prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus.”
The retail center is going through a stretch where it is attracting merchants at a brisk pace, according to Sue Newsom, senior general manager with Westfield Valley Fair…
“Our foot traffic has been exceptional,” Newsom said. “We now are way beyond our pre-COVID retail sales and foot traffic.”
That story is from March. The NY Times pointed out this week that malls nationwide are seeing increases in sales.
“At San Francisco Centre, sales fell 35 percent from 2019 to December 2022. In one of the group’s malls in nearby San Jose, it said, sales increased 66 percent during that same period. Sales across its 18 U.S. malls rose 23 percent.”
So it’s not malls in general or even the Bay Area in general that is the problem. People are choosing not to go to this particular mall.