- San Francisco’s rampant crime and homelessness epidemic has forced the closure of Jeffrey’s Toys, known for inspiring the Toy Story franchise
- After 86 years in business, the store cited “dangers and violence downtown” as the reason for closing its doors for good
- It’s just the latest in a long list of once-profitable retailers fleeing San Francisco’s rampant crime wave
An iconic San Francisco toy store known for inspiring the Toy Story movies has been forced to close after 86 years due to the city’s rampant crime and homelessness epidemic.
Jeffrey’s Toys shared the news this week that it will be closing its doors for good, citing a crime spree that has left it struggling for several years.
The store’s lawyer cited “dangers and violence in the inner city” as the main factor leading to the decision, along with “inflation, reduced consumer spending and the death of retail worldwide”.
“The city of San Francisco and the Downtown Association have their work cut out for them on how to revitalize what was once a vibrant and fun downtown experience,” said attorney Ken Sterling, representing the owners.
The store joined a staggering number of once-profitable retailers to leave the crime-plagued city, with major stores including Nordstrom, Whole Foods and CVS already closing all of their locations in the area.
The family-run company first opened in 1938 and once had seven locations across the city, but has now said it is “saddened” to see its work come to an end due to equal footing in the city centre. The closing was first reported by the San Francisco Business Times.
Co-owner Matthew Lunn, who runs the store with his father and stepmother, told SFGate weeks before the closure that they were desperate to stay in business “but we need a stronger relationship with the city.”
“We put our money, we put our hard work and we put our love into it. But in the relationship we have with the city, that doesn’t come back.
Reams of post-pandemic footage have shown downtown San Francisco shrinking dramatically in recent years, with rampant robberies and zombie-like junkies becoming increasingly common sights.
Lunn added that his store lost one of its last employees to an attempted stabbing shortly before they decided to close — with the city now standing as one of the least safe metros in America.
According to the latest crime statistics, December 2023 saw an alarming 23.8 percent increase in robberies in San Francisco compared to December 2022.
Although some statistics, such as human trafficking, arson and burglary, have improved in recent months, January saw a sharp 50 percent increase in murders and a 27.3 percent increase in rapes in San Francisco compared to the previous year .
Crime tracker Neighborhood Scout ranks San Francisco as safer than just one percent of U.S. neighborhoods and has a robbery rate more than 4.5 times the national average.
In a new development in recent years, stores in the city such as CVS have been forced to keep items locked behind protective glass due to high numbers of thefts and shoplifting.
The city’s rate of property theft is over 3.1 times the national average, with burglary and motor vehicle theft also over 2.7% higher than the US average.
Perhaps nowhere has the dramatic decline of the city’s economy been more evident than its mall, the San Francisco Centre, which lost a staggering $1 billion in value after losing a number of businesses.
The city’s largest mall, owned by Westfield and Brookfield, which defaulted on mortgages last year, is now worth just $290 million, down 75 percent from seven years ago, according to the Real Deal.
Tenants that have already left the mall include Adidas, Nordstrom and Abercrombie & Fitch, with shoe store Alto also announcing plans to leave the mall.
Handing over the property to the lender last year, Westfield blamed “dangerous conditions” and a “lack of enforcement against rampant criminal activity” for the loss of revenue.
Not even a decade ago, San Francisco’s commercial district was among the busiest in America and was usually a bustling center for business and tourists.
But this month, journalist Erica Sandberg documented the dramatic decline of Powell Street — where storefronts were completely gutted as tourists wandered aimlessly in search of somewhere to shop.
The thoroughfare, which runs adjacent to the town centre, all the way from the market to the Fisherman’s Wharf, has become a shell of its former self and has since earned the unenviable title of ‘regular circuit’.
“This picture makes me mad,” Sandberg, a freelance correspondent in San Francisco, wrote in a fiery post to X that exposed the city’s current state
“Tourists doing little things called SPENDING MONEY walking down worn-out Powell Street,” she continued.
‘[It] it should be lively with shops, cafes, bars, restaurants, theaters, bars.’
Market Street, another of the main arteries that make up the ‘loop of doom’, has quickly become an epicenter of unsavory post-pandemic activity, with junkies scattered along the pavements a common sight.
Outside Nancy Pelosi’s federal building, drug dealers set up shop in public view every day, with users injecting and smoking without law enforcement interference.
The crisis outside the federal building — which cost taxpayers $144 million to build — prompted officials to issue a stay-at-home order to employees last summer to avoid lowlifes hanging out.
Cheryl Campbell, the first woman of color to be sworn in as assistant secretary for administration at the Department of Health and Human Services, sent the memo on Aug. 4.
— In light of the conditions in [Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building] we recommend that employees … maximize their use of telecommuting for the foreseeable future,” the administrator said.
A stone’s throw south of Powell Street, the Bay Area’s Mission District has become a shell of its former self in the past year due to a string of restaurant closings, with the once-iconic Valencia Street now sparsely populated.
The road, right on the doorstep of the city’s bustling downtown, was once considered one of the most sought-after strips of real estate, but today, like Powell, it’s reeling from store closures fueled by high rents and reduced traffic.
In comments to the San Francisco Chronicle, restaurant owner Rafiq Bouzidi explained how he has seen a seemingly endless stream of closures since he opened his restaurant in April.
“If you had taken me back before I signed the lease, I would have opened somewhere else,” he told the paper in a recent interview.
“Before COVID there was no way in hell you could find a free space on Valencia Street. Now it seems like another restaurant is closing every week.
