Whole Foods San Francisco Flagship Is Closing

[Alpha8472]

The 65,000 square foot store is closing a year after opening. The store cites hostile people and high theft. It could be temporary.

https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/sf- ... 889550.php

[rwsandiego]

That's been a rough area for years. Not sure that's where I'd locate a flagship anything.

[storewanderer]

Some media reports state the closure is "temporary." I see nothing from Whole Foods that affirms the closure as being temporary or for good, rather, just says it is closing.

This store is at 1145 Market.

The future San Francisco Ikea is also near here at 945 Market. Perhaps Whole Foods was counting on that to help draw traffic to its flagship store but since that does not seem to be opening on any promised schedule they decided to throw in the towel. Perhaps they will try again when Ikea opens. Latest promise is Ikea is trying to open in May 2023.

The store is very oversized for the area, being in a basement location for whatever reason is just often not a great spot to put a grocery store. Whole Foods has had a really good run in San Francisco and this was their 10th store in the city.

I would say this was a big real estate mistake.

This has been a pretty unpleasant location for years. Before COVID this area was improving and it appeared as though a lot more people would be moving into the area in 2020, 2021, 2022. Then when COVID hit obviously it turned the clock back many years.

They never should have opened this store in the first place.

Meanwhile at 4th and Market is a Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's continues to seem to have a secret formula that works in San Francisco.

[SamSpade]

Off Topic

Meanwhile at 4th and Market is a Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's continues to seem to have a secret formula that works in San Francisco.

Note I have note been to this store since the 2020 pandemic period hit. But here are my 2c on my experiences there.

1. Access: Right next to the Powell St. station which involves both BART and local MUNI lines, alongside the Market St. transit mall. Easy to access for local residents, commuters, and tourists.
2. Organization: like every other Trader Joe's I've been in during travel and residence over the past decade as they've worked to enlarge store footprints or move. Brightly lit, would not have given a second thought to being 'in a basement.' Once I was down the escalators, I could have been in Philadelphia, Seattle, Salt Lake City, or Portland. I knew what I was doing. I still think this is one of the few feathers in the cap of stores like Walmart in most of the country (familiar floorplans, similar product selection).
3. Prices: No higher than the stores in my local market (surprising!) and the same great snacks I could keep in a room without a fridge. I also do believe we bought some produce and beverages... I am not recalling now if we had a fridge.
4. Selection: Well stocked store. I don't remember having to compromise or make substitutions. I was there specifically for groceries. On our first visit I needed a new pair of footwear, so Target's Metreon store came into the mix.
5. Checkout experience: Well managed queue with 20? registers or so. Yes, all were smaller than normal. Store had you queue around the dairy wall, if the line extended past wine, which was smart because it was pretty easy to do. One employee walked along making sure that both those in line and those that might need access to the refrigerators were happy. Modeled a bit after the Marshalls/TJX/Old Navy checkout experience, with cashiers waving small paddles to direct guests to their open lanes.

[lake52]

Some media reports state the closure is "temporary." I see nothing from Whole Foods that affirms the closure as being temporary or for good, rather, just says it is closing.

“We are closing our Trinity location only for the time being,” a Whole Foods spokesperson said in a statement. “If we feel we can ensure the safety of our team members in the store, we will evaluate a reopening of our Trinity location.”


https://sfstandard.com/business/downtow ... t-closing/

[reymann]

this a trend of what is happening in the bay area. people have either moved or not returned to the office and tourism has not recovered since the pandemic. i'm anticipating more businesses shuttering in the bay area before it is all said and done.

[storewanderer]

Some media reports state the closure is "temporary." I see nothing from Whole Foods that affirms the closure as being temporary or for good, rather, just says it is closing.

“We are closing our Trinity location only for the time being,” a Whole Foods spokesperson said in a statement. “If we feel we can ensure the safety of our team members in the store, we will evaluate a reopening of our Trinity location.”


https://sfstandard.com/business/downtow ... t-closing/

That doesn't say the closure is temporary or for good. That is what I meant by my post. In one breath they say "only for the time being" then in the next breath they give an "if..." disclaimer statement about "evaluating a reopening." That is wishy washy language that promises nothing (not a reopening and not a closure for good). The only thing certain at this point is the store is currently closed.

I suspect they will try again once Ikea is open if it appears the area is getting more traffic that they think they could pick up at that point. If and when Ikea opens.

There are a lot of things they could have done here instead of closing: they already tried locked restrooms, reduced hours, and scaling back perimeter. They could further downsize the footprint, eliminate all self serve food bars (no clue why they installed those in this location in the first place), eliminate self checkout, have forced entry/exit path, and various other things.

I think they need to figure out a way to get the store reopened.

[pseudo3d]

There are a lot of things they could have done here instead of closing: they already tried locked restrooms, reduced hours, and scaling back perimeter. They could further downsize the footprint, eliminate all self serve food bars (no clue why they installed those in this location in the first place), eliminate self checkout, have forced entry/exit path, and various other things.

I think they need to figure out a way to get the store reopened.

How far can you "downscale" a store before it really starts to hurt the brand and drive customers away? When you get to the point of closing down service departments like meat and seafood departments like Larry did at Albertsons, it's probably time to pull the plug.

[HCal]

Maybe they should have saved the "365" banner for downscaled stores....

[storewanderer]

There are a lot of things they could have done here instead of closing: they already tried locked restrooms, reduced hours, and scaling back perimeter. They could further downsize the footprint, eliminate all self serve food bars (no clue why they installed those in this location in the first place), eliminate self checkout, have forced entry/exit path, and various other things.

I think they need to figure out a way to get the store reopened.

How far can you "downscale" a store before it really starts to hurt the brand and drive customers away? When you get to the point of closing down service departments like meat and seafood departments like Larry did at Albertsons, it's probably time to pull the plug.

Whole Foods operates 9 other stores in San Francisco of varying sizes, varying perimeter quality, and varying overall offer. Most are small and lacking compared to Whole Foods units out in suburbs. This 65k square foot flagship tried to bring a suburb-sized store to a rough (but appeared to be potentially improving back in 2019) part of downtown and was simply not practical.

If they had just never opened the store in the first place (which would have been the smart move- they could have just kept delaying and delaying like Ikea though it looks like Ikea may actually be about to open in May 2023 now) then they wouldn't be in this situation. But they opened the store, it is the wrong store, too big, in the wrong location, opened at the wrong time (2021). So now they need to figure out a way to make the store work.

San Francisco (city) is an excellent market for Whole Foods. They do very well there. Customers have a positive image of Whole Foods despite mostly smaller stores in the city.

This store seemed to cause some surprise issues.