San Francisco Centre Loses Three Stores in Rush for Doors

Diamonds are forever, except at the San Francisco Centre mall.

Two jewelry stores have either just left or are prepared to securely pack out the glistening gems from the nearly dead mall at 865 Market Street, the San Francisco Examiner reported.

Late last month, APM Monaco workers quickly wrapped the contents of the store and hung a sign directing customers to an outlet in the Westfield Valley Fair mall in Santa Clara, according to an employee of a nearby shop. The store’s last day was April 27.

Swarovski is preparing to box up its jewelry, watches and left-over Mother’s Day gifts on May 19, according to store employees.

Fashion retailer John Varvatos said it will lock its doors this summer, having signed a lease for a 5,000-square-foot store at 58 Geary Street, across from the mall and closer to Union Square. The firm had been at the mall since 2018.

The march of retailers out of the 1.45-million-square mall represents the latest blow for a receiver trying to maintain its value. Owners Paris-based Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and New York-based Brookfield Properties surrendered the property to its lenders two summers ago after ceasing payments on a $558 million loan.

Since then, the value of the mall has plunged an estimated $1 billion following Nordstrom closing its 312,000-square-foot flagship store in 2023 after 35 years, citing public safety concerns. Then Cinemark’s 52,000-square-foot Century 9 movie house turned off its projectors.

This year, the five-story Bloomingdale’s shut the doors of its 339,000-square-foot flagship store. Burke Williams Day Spa emptied its luxurious pools.

Other recent store exits include Rolex, Bucherer, Panerai and IWC Schaffhausen, along with Psycho Bunny, Sunglass Hut, Razer, Kate Spade, Michael Kors and Coach, according to the San Francisco Chronicle and the Examiner.

A third attempt by Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase and other stakeholders to auction off the nine-story, more-than-half-empty mall fizzled in March. A fourth scheduled $625.6 million lien auction is set for June 17.

Surviving stores include larger fashion retailers Aritizia, Zara and H&M, plus smaller shops such as Boss, Ecco and Bath & Body Works and a variety of fast-food counters on the mall’s lower level amid empty storefronts, according to the Examiner.

One manager of a smaller clothing store said that traffic had plummeted, but that there was still enough business so owners were torn about whether it made sense to move — or to wait for a comeback.

“I used to have 500 people come in in a day. Now, maybe I get 80,” she told the Examiner. “It’s a dead mall.”

— Dana Bartholomew