Williams-Sonoma to pack pots and pans out of SF’s Union Square

A William-Sonoma kitchenware store in San Francisco’s Union Square will give way to a Chanel fashion boutique.

The San Francisco-based kitchenware chain is abandoning its last store in the city when its lease ends next year at 340 Post Street, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. It will be immediately replaced by Chanel.

The London-based luxury fashion house bought the three-story, 18,000-square-foot building last year for $63 million.

The sale, which worked out to $3,500 per square foot, was among the largest deals during the pandemic.

The apparel retailer will relocate from its store at nearby 156 Geary Street, according to the Union Square Alliance, which represents merchants.

The move is a positive note for Union Square, which has seen exits by a number of well-known stores, including Coco Republic, which cited deteriorating street conditions for pulling out this month after spending millions in renovations. The store had been open just seven months.

Other brands to bail out of the luxe shopping district include Crate & Barrel’s CB2, The Container Store, Uniqlo, DSW, Marshalls, Gap, H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch and The RealReal. 

The slump in business around Union Square led Mayor London Breed and local businesses to promote zoning reform to revitalize the upscale shopping district. The plan calls for lifting zoning restrictions to draw more tenants, while adding housing and offices on upper floors.

Other recent businesses to announce Downtown exits include Nordstrom, which opted to close two stores in Downtown after 35 years in the city, and Whole Foods Market, which closed its Mid-Market store last month over safety concerns for its employees. Anthropologie said it would close a store this month near the Powell Street cable car turnaround. 

The darkened stores represent the latest retailers and restaurants to exit Downtown this year as commuters and shoppers become less frequent during the era of remote work. The city also lost tens of thousands of residents during the pandemic.

San Francisco, which has struggled to rebound since the pandemic, has been dubbed “the most empty downtown in America,” with one out of three offices now vacant. 

On a positive note, San Francisco-based Gap signed a 10-year lease to fill three floors at 152 Gary Street with a Banana Republic store, adding to its Athleta and Old Navy brands in Union Square. Gap shuttered its flagship store at 890 Market Street in 2020.

Williams-Sonoma, a San Francisco company, does not have any other retail locations in the city, but it has stores in Corte Madera, Palo Alto, San Ramon, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Walnut Creek, according to the Chronicle.

A company representative declined to comment to the newspaper on whether the company would open another store in San Francisco. A few years ago, Williams-Sonoma closed another store on Chestnut Street. 

— Dana Bartholomew