San Francisco Mayor London Breed slammed for mourning loss of city's flagship Macy's 'where she shopped with her family at Christmas' without mentioning destruction of the city

San Francisco Mayor London Breed is being slammed after a statement on the closing of the city's flagship Macy's at the Union Square location. 

Breed, facing a re-election bid currently in trouble according to recent polling, made the comments as the location became one of 150 Macy's stores to announce plans to shutter.

The Democrat has overseen a continued downturn of San Francisco's economy and the prevalence of homelessness and overdoses on its streets. 

The Union Square location will remain open until at least 2025, or when a buyer can be found, according to Breed's statement that seemingly glossed over the city's issues.

'As someone who grew up in San Francisco, Macy's has always meant a lot to the people of this city. It's where families came to shop for the holidays,' Breed said. 

San Francisco Mayor London Breed is being slammed after a statement on the closing of the city's flagship Macy's in the city's Union Square, where around 100 establishments have closed

The Democrat has overseen a continued downturn of San Francisco's economy and the prevalence of homelessness and overdoses on its streets 

'It's where many people from my community got their first jobs, or even held jobs for decades. It's hard to think of Macy's not being part of our city anymore.'

However, she promised that 'change is happening in San Francisco, and that change can be positive if we channel it to the benefit of San Franciscans.'

Her solutions were to change local and state laws, as well as passing tax reform to 'recruit and retain businesses' and 'bringing new universities' to the city. 

'We will keep our focus on moving this City forward and creating opportunities for growth,' Breed concluded.

Reaction on social media was heavily negative and cited the many issues and prior escapes made by business from the city.

'They're leaving because no one lives here. The downtown is barren because of you,' wrote one X user. 

'The seeds were sewn, reap the results,' added another. 

Another referenced Breed's upcoming electoral prospects: 'I hope you have a corner picked out because that's the only job you'll be able to find come election time. You and your Dem friends did this.'

The Union Square location will remain open until at least 2025, or when a buyer can be found, per Breed's statement, which went for sentiment over a reckoning with the city's issues

The crime-ridden downtown area of San Francisco has seen the closure of many shops and restaurants since its drastic downfall, with its flagship Macy's store the latest victim

Reaction on social media was heavily negative and cited the many issues and prior escapes made by business from the city

The crime-ridden downtown area of San Francisco has seen the closure of many shops and restaurants since its drastic downfall, despite Breed attempting to hype statistics claiming offenses went down in 2023.

In October, it was reported that seven Starbucks stores were planning to close as the city continues to deal with crime, drug use, and a homelessness epidemic.

At the end of August video was released showing San Francisco's newly shut-down flagship Nordstrom store that was almost barren after nearly three decades in business.

A slew of the city's restaurateurs cited crime, drugs, and waning tourism as the main culprits killing their businesses, all set on Valencia Street.

The thoroughfare, about a mile from the city's embattled Downtown, is considered one of the most sought-after strips of restaurant real estate in The Bay Area.

But for residents of San Francisco's Mission District, the reality is far different. The area - much like the nearby 'Doom Loop' of Union Square, City Hall, and Tenderloin and Mid Market districts - has been a hive of unsavory, post-pandemic activity.

The city's Ikea was nearly empty earlier this month as customers say persistent construction, lack of parking and constant crime on the surrounding streets keep them from shopping at the store.

The incumbent mayor, 49, suffered poor results in a new poll from the San Francisco Chronicle that found she would lose her office to the man who briefly held it before her, Mark Farrell, 50. 

London Breed, 49, is on course to lose the mayoralty of San Francisco in a new poll, which found a staggering 71 percent of voters disapprove of her job performance 

Former acting mayor Mark Farrell came out narrowly on top in the new poll - as he runs on a no-nonsense campaign to clean up San Francisco's crumbling streets 

Farrell said San Francisco has become the 'butt of jokes across the country' as rampant homelessness and drug taking takes over the city 

San Francisco is reeling from soaring crime, an emptying downtown, and residents moving away to safer, cheaper areas 

In a tight three-way race, Farrell registered 20 percent support, Breed registered 18 percent, and Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie registered 16 percent. 

While the candidates were closely matched, San Francisco's use of ranked choice voting in its mayoral elections would see her struggle - with Breed receiving far fewer second-choice votes than either Farrell or Lurie. 

The city by the bay made promises to increase police presence in the Union Square area during the past holiday season.

The call for escalated police presence is in tandem with the city's efforts to discourage retail crime, control theft and encourage visitors to return to downtown San Fran after the crime-ridden city gained a reputation for drugs, homelessness and lawlessness.

The new expanded patrol measures come just a few years after the liberal city - led by Breed - confidently called to defund the police during the Black Lives Matter movement.

In February 2021, Breed announced plans to redirect $120 million from the police department to a combination of new and existing programs.

The increased police presence in Union Square was part of San Fran's Safe Shopper Initiative - which was announced by Breed in 2021 after a wave of looting swept over the city, which primarily targeted luxury stores in Union Square.

Union Square's Louis Vuitton store was a victim of many smash-and-grab robberies which ultimately forced the shop to board up its windows. 

Police Chief Bill Scott said the department quadrupled their officers patrolling the commercial corridor last year - and that the number this year will be even higher. 

Mayor Breed announced a $17 million grant to help with their police-expansion efforts and movement to combat retail theft ahead of the holiday shopping season. 

Breed said that the funding would go toward paying officers overtime for the chaotic time period as they ran targeted retail theft operations. 

Money is also set to go towards the San Francisco District Attorney's Office to fund a prosecutor and investigator dedicated to retail theft cases.

San Francisco has become notorious for homelessness, crime, theft and drugs in a post-pandemic downfall

 A slew of the city's restaurateurs cited crime, drugs, and waning tourism as the main culprits killing their businesses. Pictured: Homeless people live near San Francisco's Union Square

For Macy's it's part of a new strategy aimed at breathing life into the 166-year-old retailer.

The plan, dubbed a 'Bold New Chapter,' said around 50 stores would be closed by the end of the current fiscal year, without mentioning how many employees would be impacted.

The plan comes a week after Arkhouse Management unveiled a proxy challenge to replace nine members of the Macy's board.

The challenge follows a rejection by Macy's in January of an unsolicited takeover proposal from Arkhouse and Brigade Capital Management.

The company, which had also announced in January it would pare its workforce by 3.5 percent, said in a statement that the new strategy would prioritize investment in the remaining 350 Macy's locations.

It also plans to open 15 Bloomingdale's stores and at least 30 Bluemercury stores in new and existing markets over the next three years, along with 30 remodeled Bluemercury sites.

Department stores have seen their results suffer for years as consumers increasingly move online, and have been forced to reduce in size -- a dynamic exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

These trends have put pressure on shopping malls throughout the United States, particularly older retail sites that have fallen out of favor.

The 150 stores targeted for closure account for 25 percent of Macy's gross square footage, but less than 10 percent of sales, Chief Executive Tony Spring said on a conference call with analysts.

Macy's has undertaken prior rounds of store closures, but Spring -- who took over as CEO this month -- said the process was more 'stringent' this time, involving interviews with some 60,000 customers who described what they were looking for.

From that process, the company also determined that there was an opportunity to grow the Bloomingdale's brand, including through smaller stores and more locations away from the US coasts, Spring said.

Macy's will also expand a pilot program to try new ideas at some 50 stores.