{"id":2019912,"date":"2023-09-01T21:54:02","date_gmt":"2023-09-02T01:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/165-year-old-san-francisco-retailer-may-close-due-to-homelessness-office-vacancies\/"},"modified":"2023-09-01T22:00:06","modified_gmt":"2023-09-02T02:00:06","slug":"165-year-old-san-francisco-retailer-may-close-due-to-homelessness-office-vacancies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/165-year-old-san-francisco-retailer-may-close-due-to-homelessness-office-vacancies\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco retailer at risk of closure due to homelessness and office vacancies."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2F165-year-old-san-francisco-retailer-may-close-due-to-homelessness-office-vacancies%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2019912&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div data-post-content=\"true\" class=\"post_content\" id=\"post_content\">\n<h2>Gump\u2019s Luxury Retailer Faces Closure Amidst San Francisco\u2019s Homelessness Crisis<\/h2>\n<p>Gump\u2019s, a historic San Francisco luxury retailer, which opened in 1861,\u2062 could\u2062 shut its doors citing the city\u2019s deteriorating homelessness crisis and an unfavorable business climate.<\/p>\n<p>The owner of the store,\u2062 John\u2063 Chachas, wrote an open <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/zachcoelius\/status\/1690772824787746816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1690772824787746816%7Ctwgr%5E8bbecec797cab6bae738489d2f19561d4c8e9f79%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&#038;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsfist.com%2F2023%2F08%2F15%2Fgumps-department-store-owner-slams-sf-in-open-letter-complaining-about-street-conditions-remote-work%2F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">letter<\/a> \u200cto California Gov. Gavin\u200d Newsom, Mayor London Breed, and other\u200b political leaders calling for a change to the city\u2019s \u201cfailed public policies\u201d in a \u200c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/google-apple-facebook-call-on-texas-to-drop-legislation-against-child-sex-change-procedures\/\" title=\"Google, Apple, Facebook Call on Texas to Drop Legislation Against Child Sex Change Procedures\">full-page ad published<\/a> in August in the San \u2062Francisco Chronicle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday, as we prepare for our \u200d166th holiday \u200cseason at 250 Post Street, we fear this may be our last because of the profound erosion of this city\u2019s current conditions,\u201d\u2062 Mr. Chachas said. \u201cSan Francisco now\u2064 suffers from\u2063 a\u2062 \u2018tyranny \u2062of \u2062the minority\u2019\u2014behavior and\u200c actions of the few that \u2062jeopardize\u2064 the \u2063livelihood of the many.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Related Stories<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/workers-at-san-francisco-federal-building-told-to-work-from-home-due-to-rising-crime-5468746\">Workers at\u2064 San Francisco Federal Building Told to Work \u200dFrom Home Due \u2063to Rising Crime<\/a><br \/>\n        <span class=\"text-comp-caption\">8\/15\/2023<\/span>\n      <\/li>\n<li>\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/california-mayors-ask-for-1-5-billion-to-help-homeless-suffering-from-mental-health-issues-5481065\">California Mayors Ask for $1.5 Billion to Help Homeless Suffering From Mental Health\u200c Issues<\/a><br \/>\n        <span class=\"text-comp-caption\">8\/25\/2023<\/span>\n      <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Specializing in luxury home\u200b d\u00e9cor and jewelry, Gump\u2019s was acquired by Mr. Chachas after the retailer&#8217;s\u200b Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Originating in San\u2062 Francisco during\u2063 the renowned \u200dCalifornia Gold\u200b Rush era,\u200d the upscale retailer maintains its only physical store a block from the city&#8217;s Union Square.<\/p>\n<p>Homeless\u2064 occupied sidewalks have created\u200c an unlivable and unsafe environment for residents\u200c and employees,\u200b and this also made the city an unwelcoming destination for visitors from\u2062 all over the world, Mr. Chachas\u2063 said.<\/p>\n<p>According to a \u200b2022 point-in-time count, there are an\u2063 estimated 7,754 homeless people living in the city, many\u2064 in the nearby downtown area.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/deporting-fentanyl-dealers-violates-sanctuary-city-policies-says-sf-supervisor\/\" title=\"Deporting Fentanyl Dealers Violates Sanctuary City Policies, Says SF Supervisor\">homeless man lies<\/a> on\u2062 the streets of the Tenderloin District \u2063of\u2063 San Francisco, Calif., on Feb.\u2062 23, 2023. (John Fredricks\/The Epoch Times)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cIt is entirely incompatible to run a successful luxury business, where my customer \u200chas to step\u200c over needles, human waste, \u200dand \u2062sometimes people lying on the ground \u2062as they walk from their hotel \u200bon the northern side of the Union \u200dSquare \u2064to my\u200c store,\u201d he told The \u200bEpoch Times in \u2063an interview after the \u200dletter\u200d was published.<\/p>\n<p>The homeless crisis, Mr. Chachas said, \u200ccan be largely attributed to city\u2064 leaders\u2019\u200d policies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[They] don&#8217;t really want to face the music of what it&#8217;s like\u200b to be \u200ccriticized by not being compassionate to these people that are on the streets. \u2064&#8230; They just beat \u2064around the\u200c bush like, \u2062\u2018Well, we\u200b just have to find a way to \u2064make it all work together,&#8217;\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>However, he said that it is impossible for\u2064 businesses to\u200c operate in such an \u2062environment where\u200b owners are constantly worrying about safety for patrons,\u200c saying \u200bmany \u200cvisitors have simply stopped coming.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe customer \u200ddecides to cancel\u200b the conference, canceled a vacation\u200b to San Francisco. Overtime,\u2064 your \u2062door counts fall, your absolute business volumes fall, and there is \u200dno way to dig your way out of that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, Mr. Chachas said that \u2063the decades-long nationwide movement to move individuals \u2064out of public mental hospitals in the 1960s is an important reason for the homeless issue people see\u2064 today.<\/p>\n<p>From 1950 to 1980, the resident population in those facilities fell from 559,000 to 154,000 across the country, according to a 2007 \u200bstudy by the Kaiser Family Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe did\u2063 that as a country, \u200cand it created a total failure in terms \u200bof American social policy for the care of\u200b people that\u2063 are\u200d in need,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>At the state level, \u2063then Gov. Ronald Reagan signed the Lanterman-Petris-Short \u200dAct in 1967, which banned\u2064 the\u200b practice of institutionalizing patients in California against their \u200dwill \u2062and closed mental institutions across the \u200cstate.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>Parisoma, a co-working space, \u200bis seen mostly empty in San Francisco, California, on March\u200b 12, 2020. (Josh Edelson\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Empty Offices<\/h2>\n<p>Mr. Chachas also\u200d suggested, both in the letter and in the interview, that some of \u2064San Francisco&#8217;s current challenges\u200c stem from abandoning office space during the COVID-19\u2064 pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>In May,\u200d vacancy rates \u200bof offices \u2064reportedly surged above 31 percent, the highest ever documented in the city\u2014a once-renowned \u200blocation which held status as one of the world&#8217;s priciest commercial\u200d real estate markets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBusinesses in downtowns in \u2062America \u2064cannot survive \u200d&#8230; when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/165-year-old-san-francisco-retailer-may-close-due-to-homelessness-office-vacancies\/\" title=\"San Francisco retailer at risk of closure due to homelessness and office vacancies.\">large office buildings sit 35 percent empty<\/a>. &#8230; [While] \u200cyou add on top of that, the complexity when you have \u200bpolicies from the cities that contribute to vagrancy\u200d and decay,\u201d \u200bhe said.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally,\u200b he criticized the city\u2019s lack of effort to bring people \u200cback\u2062 to work in the office after the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll you\u2063 have to do is walk\u2062 around the central business\u200c district or the central retail \u200ddistricts in San Francisco \u200dor walk [Manhattan\u2019s] Madison Avenue from 59th Street to 96th\u200c street and see how many \u2064empty storefronts [are] \u200c on both sides of that,\u201d he\u2063 said.<\/p>\n<p>In \u200dfact, he said, companies are \u200dnow encouraging employees to work \u2064from home to \u200blower\u2063 the cost of\u2062 renting office space.<\/p>\n<p>Such vacancies\u2063 also appear \u2064in governmental\u2062 agencies, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier\u200d this month, federal employees\u200d at the\u200c Nancy Pelosi Federal Building in San Francisco \u200breceived a memo \u200bfrom the Department of Health and\u200b Human Services advising them to work remotely whenever feasible due to escalating concerns regarding drug \u2064use and surging crime near the downtown\u200c building.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou and I are paying\u2062 taxes so [the government] can\u2062 rent the building. And yet the people that\u2063 work in \u2062the \u2063building are told not\u200b to go to their office. &#8230; When\u200b people aren&#8217;t in their offices, cities\u2062 die. That&#8217;s it. Period,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>A for lease sign\u200b hangs in the \u200dwindow of a closed business \u2064in San Francisco, \u2063Calif.,\u200c on\u200c April 16, 2021. (Justin \u200bSullivan\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Police Shortages, Store Closures<\/h2>\n<p>A police shortage \u200dis\u200c also affecting businesses&#8217; willingness to\u2062 operate in\u200d the city, former San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) officer Joel\u2062 Aylworth said in a recent\u200d interview on EpochTV\u2019s \u201cCalifornia\u2063 Insider.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The record \u200dlow number of sworn San Francisco Police officers is causing the department\u2064 to triage some calls that appear less \u200burgent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gump&#8217;s, a renowned SF luxury retailer since 1861, may close due to worsening homelessness and an unfavorable business climate. Owner John Chachas penned a letter to Gov. Newsom, Mayor Breed, and leaders, urging action on the city&#8217;s challenges. Change is needed to secure Gump&#8217;s future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2250,"featured_media":2019913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2019912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2019912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2019913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2019912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2019912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2019912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}