Natural wine shop and bar Tofino Wines is closing its doors after nine years in business and hopes to move to a new location. Owners Mark Nevin and April Sack announced in an email to customers that they will be closing the business at 2696 Geary Boulevard, writing that Tofino's last day as a bar will be Saturday, March 30. The couple said issues with renewing their lease and ongoing challenges with the pandemic contributed to their decision to close.

It's not all sad news, though: Nevin and Sack say they plan to find a new retail space for their wine shop and will expand their online business in the meantime. They want to open their store in early July and have started a GoFundMe to help them reach their opening goal. And while the wine bar portion of the store is closing at the end of March, the couple says they'll be operating “in and out of the store” through the end of April if anyone wants to pick up a bottle. “It breaks our hearts to make this announcement, but we plan to take with us many of the beautiful things we have built and created,” the email reads in part. “Most importantly, we want to take you with us, because we have always been the link between the wines and winemakers we care about and our customers, who have been at the heart of our work for nine years.”

Another SF rooftop restaurant will join the chat

Real estate developer Presidio Bay Ventures purchased the building at 60 Spear Street in August 2023, but now the San Francisco Business Times has learned what the company plans to do with the property. The news outlet reports that in addition to creating a larger building, there are also plans to install a 7,700-square-foot rooftop bar and restaurant, as well as a bakery, as well as other structural amenities such as “sauna rooms, cold and hot water pools, floating saltwater pools, co-working -Space” and more, says an application to city planners.

Opening of a new distillery in Rancho Cordova

Gold River Distillery is closing its doors at the end of March after 11 years, but now the Sacramento Bee has news about who is taking over the space at 11460 Sunrise Gold Circle. Set to open there this summer, Dao Distillery plans to produce the first California-made version of the Vietnamese rice liquor Rượu đế.

Pliny the Younger turns 20

The most die-hard beer fanatics probably already know this and are lining up at Russian River Brewing Company, but for the rest of us, the annual return of Pliny the Younger is just around the corner… and the celebrated beer is almost at the legal drinking age. The Mercury News reports that this release of the triple IPA will run from Friday, March 22nd through April 4th and will be available at Santa Rosa Brewpub and Windsor Brewery and Pub in Russian River to mark the beer's 20th anniversary becomes. All detailed information about what to expect when looking for Pliny can be found on the Russian River Brewing Company website.

Spring cleaning party at the Michelin star restaurant

As Osito bids farewell to its sister establishment and bar Liliana, making way for Bar Agricole in May, chef and owner Seth Stowaway is throwing a party to sell the alcohol there. On Tuesday, March 26, from 4 to 6 p.m., fans can stop by for a plate of barbecue and cocktails for $10 per person.

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Starbucks (SBUX) is the latest company to rethink its presence in San Francisco.

Effective Oct. 22, the coffee giant plans to close seven stores in San Francisco. Following these closures, there will be 52 remaining Starbucks locations in the city.

Starbucks did not disclose the reason for the closures. In a letter to employees, Jessica Borton, the Northern California regional vice president, stated: “There are several factors Starbucks considers when tasked with the tough decision of closing a store, but it is all part of ensuring a healthy store portfolio.”

Starbucks isn’t the only consumer-facing giant to take a second look at its San Francisco portfolio this year.

Other companies that recently closed locations in San Francisco include Amazon (AMZN), which closed a Whole Foods Market just 13 months after opening it earlier this year and all four Amazon Go Stores in March; Office Depot (ODP), which closed a store in April; and Anthropologie (URBN), which left Union Square after two decades in May.

Gap (GPS) also shuttered Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athleta stores this year, while Nordstrom (JWN) closed its flagship store in August, and Saks Off 5th shut its doors this fall.

The Starbucks stores being added to this list are located on Mission and Main, Geary and Taylor, 425 Battery, 398 Market, 4th and Market, 555 California, and Bush and Van Ness. It’s worth noting that none of the stores set to close are unionized and employees at the stores will be offered the opportunity to transfer to other locations.

San Francisco sluggish in returning to offices

What’s behind the exodus? Hybrid and fully remote companies may be partly to blame.

“A big component for sure is that people are remote working and not coming into those offices as much,” John Zolidis, president of Quo Vadis Capital, told Yahoo Finance. “That’s got to be one of the driving forces — just less traffic from office workers.”

A customer leaves a Starbucks coffee shop in San Francisco, California, on Sept. 13, 2018. (Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

Per foot traffic analytics platform Placer.ai, San Francisco has the lowest number of visits to offices of any major US city. In August 2023, office visits were down 52.7% compared to August 2019, before the pandemic disrupted workplaces.

San Francisco is “by far the slowest to come back,” Ethan Chernofsky, senior vice president of marketing at Placer.ai, told Yahoo Finance. “When you think about what that means for retail more broadly … lots of people work there and then shop there and eat there, so that’s obviously going to have an impact. … Then, even though people who are coming back to the office [are] not doing so five days a week.”

Migration patterns — such as people moving out of the city — are a factor too, Chernofsky said, affecting cities across the US as well as San Francisco. And if retailers leave a city, it can lead to fewer visits to that area as well, causing companies to further reconsider their real estate portfolios.

“We see significant headroom for new store growth in underpenetrated areas in the US, including smaller cities, as well as new formats in larger metros,” Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan said on a call with investors following its Q3 earnings results.

However, the tide may be turning for San Francisco, with the artificial intelligence boom acting as a bright spot for activity. Just as the tech industry was the first to move to remote work during the pandemic, it may be a leader in bringing workers back to offices.

“San Francisco and the Bay Area in general is really a market that’s led by the tech industry,” Colin Yasukochi, executive director at CBRE’s Tech Insights Center, told Yahoo Finance. “Over the last six months, … they’re starting to see growth perk up in the tech industry. Artificial intelligence is one of those particular areas where the companies are actually looking to expand — they’re looking to upgrade the [office] space that they currently have to provide a better experience for their employees.”

Pedestrians and vehicles are visible at the base of the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, California, on May 5, 2022. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

A ‘difficult operating environment’

Crime and safety may also be playing a role.

On Sept. 26, Target (TGT) announced plans to close nine stores at the end of October, including three in the San Francisco and Oakland area. Target said crime and retail theft were the reasons behind the decision to close stores.

“We cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests, and contributing to unsustainable business performance,” the company said in a statement.

According to crime data on the city’s website, theft has been the top issue, followed by burglary. That has affected not only if companies open retail space in the city but also where they choose to expand.

“On-the-ground type of issues have probably impacted where companies are willing to be located in terms of their office space,” Yasukochi said, “which is why we’ve seen a greater concentration of companies looking for space in the central business district and less so in the South of Market or mid-market areas.”

For Starbucks, though, it’s a bit harder to understand if crime truly was a factor. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on whether safety played a part in the decision in particular.

“There’s not large quantities of merchandise to steal and resell,” Zolidis said about Starbucks stores, though he added: “It’s just a difficult operating environment from an employee safety perspective.”

Another factor affecting how companies position themselves in the Golden State could be the approach of a minimum wage law that goes into effect on April 1. The law, which raises starting pay for fast food workers to $20 an hour, is one to watch, Zolidis said.

But, he added, “if that were a deciding factor [for Starbucks], it wouldn’t be seven stores in San Francisco [but] a much broader group of stores.”

Meanwhile, San Francisco Mayor London Breed remains optimistic about the city’s future, despite its challenges.

“People still want to be here,” Breed told Yahoo Finance in a recent interview at Salesforce’s annual Dreamforce conference. “They’re starting their companies, their businesses here.”

—

Brooke DiPalma is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @BrookeDiPalma or email her at bdipalma@yahoofinance.com.

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A San Francisco women’s boutique clothing store visited by celebrities including Alanis Morissette, Courtney Love and Steven Tyler will be closing its Marina location in October after operating the spot for nearly two decades.

Ambiance owners Donna and Kieran O’Leary have decided to retire after the couple turned 69 years old in January and December. 

Only the Marina location faces closure, which is slated to happen around mid-October, according to a letter the owners sent to the store’s newsletter subscribers.

The Inner Sunset location at 756 Irving St. will stay in business as Ambiance’s only remaining store. The location has been sold to the store manager and Ambiance’s director of operations. New co-owner Gwen Lee-Rios declined to comment when reached by phone due to the store being too busy.

San Francisco women’s boutique Ambiance has sold women’s clothing since 1983, operating six stores in that time. The Marina location, pictured above, will close in October. | Source: Donna O’Leary

Both locations will have blowout sales—starting with 25% off everything in the store. The sales will be exclusive to subscribers on their first days. After that, the sales will open to the public, and prices will continue to drop until everything is sold, the letter to customers said. 

The Inner Sunset store’s sale starts Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., while the Marina store sale begins Sept. 14.

Donna O’Leary said she was relieved to step back, but called the departure bittersweet.

“People think it’s glamorous because it’s fashion, but retail is a lot of work,” O’Leary said. “It’s time for a new generation to take over.”

O’Leary said she doesn’t know the new owners’ plans for the Inner Sunset store, but whatever direction they take, she hopes they will continue the store’s practice of offering fashion advice, which she calls key to good customer service. 

“They’ve got to stay true to Ambiance,”  O’Leary said. “The name means something to San Francisco.” 

Ambiance, a San Francisco legacy business, had multiple locations over its 40 years of serving San Francisco, first opening in Haight-Ashbury at 1458 Haight St. in 1983. A second store opened in Noe Valley on 3985 24th St. in 1999 before moving up the block in 2014.  Stores in the Marina and Inner Sunset followed in 2002 and 2011. The O’Learys took over ownership in 1996 from founder Gloria Garret.

The store is known for its vintage-inspired clothing and accessories including purses, blouses, jackets and dresses.

The original Haight Street store saw its share of celebrity visitors.

O’Leary remembers Steven Tyler’s visit, which she said happened in the early 2000s when Aerosmith was in San Francisco for a concert. She said the rock starr signed autographs and took pictures with fans.

“He was the biggest sweetheart,” O’Leary said.

Alanis Morrisette also shopped there several times throughout the early 2000s, often when she was playing in San Francisco while on tour, according to  O’Leary.

“She would just stand in line like a regular customer,” O’Leary said.

The original Haight Street store closed in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic, but  O’Leary said she is glad at least one store will carry on.

“I’m really glad Ambiance will carry on in San Francisco and make women beautiful,” she said.

The post San Francisco Ambiance Clothes Retailer Closing After 19 Years appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Cole Hardware’s SoMa store will shut its doors on May 31 due to a declining customer base and security concerns, its CFO Rick Karp told The Standard. The company also alerted customers to its closure via a recent email announcement.

The 103-year-old San Francisco hardware store chain had bet big on SoMa before the pandemic as developments popped up around the once up-and-coming neighborhood. 

But since the pandemic, the customer base has been steadily shrinking as incidents with crime and nuisance behavior become more prevalent, according to Karp, who goes by the moniker of Keeper of the Karma, rather than CFO. 

READ MORE: Downtown San Francisco: Human Waste Increasingly Found in Westfield Mall Elevators, Staff Say

The 345 Ninth St. location, just blocks from Twitter HQ, had its window smashed at around 10 a.m. Tuesday by a passerby, according to Karp. San Francisco police could not find a report of the incident, but Karp said the store would only call the police if it intended to file a report for insurance purposes.

“Somebody decided to break our front window, just smashed it with their backpack and kept walking,” Karp said. “Our staff have issues with individuals on a daily basis. Security is definitely an issue.” 

But the main issue for the company is the declining customer base that just keeps getting worse, said Karp. 

“Instead of getting close to breaking even, we’re getting further and further away,” Karp said.

Cole’s isn’t the first business to drop out of SoMa, which is often referred to as the neighborhood that’s second-most affected by the city’s drug crisis. In February, Samy’s Camera on the corner of Ninth and Bryant streets also closed its doors.  Ace Plumbing and Rooter Inc. banners now hang from the building Samy’s once occupied.

“I think SoMa’s issues will be chronic for many years to come,” said Karp.

The SoMa store is having a closing-down sale, all items are 25% off.

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After 70 years in San Francisco and a change of ownership that resulted in an imaginative menu update attracting several TV shows to its doors, HRD Coffee Shop has closed.

The San Francisco Standard first reported the news, and owner Sydney Saidyan confirmed the restaurant would be closed on Friday, June 23. He says the pandemic has exacerbated problems with the landlord; Because of some of these issues, the restaurant was unable to add outdoor dining, adding to HRD’s losses. “I’ve lost confidence in my partners, in other words the city and the landlord, to really see us as their valued partner,” says Saidyan. “We realized that when we’ve done everything we can, we basically can’t go on, and we couldn’t really get to the point of saying we can go on for another year or two.”

As the Standard reports, HRD Coffee Shop was founded by Ben Chan, an immigrant from China who wanted to open a breakfast spot in the China Basin. He opened HRD in 1953 — rumored to be named for the “HRD” on the front of the human resources office where the restaurant began — and eventually passed the business on to his nephew David Yeung and partner Joanna Banks in 2009. They brought Saidyan into the restaurant business, enriched the menu with his unique brand of kimchi and bulgogi burritos that fused Asian ingredients with Mexican food, and led to appearances at Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Saidyan says Yeung left the company three years ago and has been the sole owner ever since.

As for the HRD Coffee Shop story, Saidyan doesn’t think that’s the real ending. Citing various catering appearances at the Giants and local businesses, as well as the numerous reviews on Yelp and Google praising their restaurant, he says HRD will carry on — whether he’s at the helm or someone running the business and its various activities takes over trademarks and patents. He would prefer the San Francisco restaurant to continue, but indicated to the Standard that he would be willing to move the restaurant elsewhere. “After 70 years, our story is a story of perseverance and of an immigrant who came to this country,” Saidyan says. “I have never seen myself as the owner, but as the steward of this man’s legacy. We did everything we could, but unfortunately it takes two to tango.”

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Cole Hardware’s SoMa store will close its doors on May 31 due to a dwindling customer base and safety concerns, CFO Rick Karp told The Standard. The company also recently emailed its customers about the closure.

The 103-year-old San Francisco home improvement chain had bet heavily on SoMa prior to the pandemic as new developments loomed in the once-thriving neighborhood.

But since the pandemic, the customer base has steadily shrunk as incidents of crime and harassing behavior have become more common, according to Karp, who doesn’t call himself CFO but “Keeper of the Karma.”

CONTINUE READING: Downtown San Francisco: Human waste is increasingly being found in Westfield Mall elevators, employees say

Karp said the window of the 345 Ninth St. location, just blocks from Twitter’s headquarters, was smashed by a passerby around 10 a.m. Tuesday. San Francisco police couldn’t find a report of the incident, but Karp said the store would only call the police if it planned to file a report for insurance purposes.

“Someone decided to break our front window, just smashed it with their backpack and walked on,” Karp said. “Our employees have problems with individuals on a daily basis. Safety is definitely an issue.”

The main problem for the company, however, is the ever-declining customer base, said Karp.

“Instead of coming close to breaking even, we’re getting further and further away from it,” Karp said.

Cole’s isn’t the first company to exit SoMa, which is often dubbed the neighborhood second hardest hit by the city’s drug crisis. Samy’s Camera on the corner of Ninth Street and Bryant Street also closed its doors in February. Ace Plumbing and Rooter Inc. banners now hang from the building where Samy once lived.

“I think SoMa’s problems will remain chronic for many years to come,” Karp said.

There is a final sale in the SoMa store, with a 25% discount on all items.

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For 45 years, a small marine lab on a mile-long stretch of Marin County Bay has been developing big ideas for the San Francisco Bay Area.

Researchers at Tiburon’s Estuary and Ocean Science Center, operated by San Francisco State University, have shown how endangered sea otters might be returning to northern California, why algal blooms have proliferated in bay waters, and how seagrass beds can cushion sea-level rise.

Now the center and its 15 faculty members are at risk of losing the funds they need to operate, and the future of the lab and its work is in question. The San Francisco state administration says it cannot afford to keep the site up given the general financial problems within the university system, and it wants the institute to find a way to support itself.

“Yes, it’s an ultimatum,” said Kathy Boyer, a biology professor who serves as the research center’s interim executive director. “We’re looking at every type of option and everything we can think of to cover our costs so we can move forward.”

The alternative that no one wants to see is closure.

Boyer and her colleagues are working on a financial proposal to present to the university this month, one that includes creative revenue-generating strategies such as building housing on the site.

The university administration, together with the Office of the Chancellor of California State University, will make a final evaluation of the proposal and decide whether and how to include it in their budget. This decision is expected this summer. Lab directors are also seeking state and federal support and are exploring partnerships with private companies.

The Delta Hall at the Estuary and Ocean Science Center in Tiburon. The future of the site is uncertain due to a financial crisis.

Felix Uribe/Special on The Chronicle

“The desire, of course, is to continue to support the center,” said Carmen Domingo, dean of the College of Science and Engineering at San Francisco State. But “it has become more difficult to find a financial way to maintain the site.”

The university has not discussed what would happen to the site if the center were to close.

Known as the Romberg Tiburon Campus, the property is inherently difficult to manage. The 53-acre site is a former US Navy base. Today’s labs, classrooms, offices, and conference centers are housed in old military buildings, many of which are dilapidated and unusable.

Still, some of the characteristics that made the site a good place for the Navy – a deep water harbor for large boats and large buildings for space and storage – are ideal for research. Faculty members note that the center is the only marine and environmental science laboratory on the San Francisco Bay area, allowing research vessels to easily cruise to study sites on the Bay and in the nearby Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

Approximately 35 doctoral students study at the center, which is known not only for its research but also as a focal point for environmental professionals moving into regulatory and natural resource positions with government and non-profit organizations. Undergraduates are also an integral part of the lab, taking classes on topics such as wetland ecology and physical oceanography.

The San Francisco Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center also operate at the site.

Lab coats hang in the Delta Hall of the Estuary and Ocean Science Center in Tiburon.

Felix Uribe/Special on The Chronicle

According to the faculty, the center’s ongoing costs are approximately $2.5 million per year. Boyer and her colleagues plan to secure a steady stream of independent funding for operations and raise millions more for upgrades.

Her ultimate vision is to renovate two large former naval barracks for $20 million each and rebuild the old pier for another $20 million. They anticipate that such investments will lead to new, profitable businesses for the center, such as affordable housing.

The State of San Francisco has operated a marine laboratory on the site since 1978, when it began acquiring the land from the federal government at virtually no cost, on the condition that the site be used for educational purposes.

Boyer says it would be a shame to let go of such a valuable piece of real estate, especially as scientific know-how becomes increasingly valuable in the face of climate change for the San Francisco Bay Area and California.

“The community and the region recognize the values ​​in what we do and they want to see a way forward,” she said. “We just don’t know what that is yet.”

Reach Kurtis Alexander: kalexander@sfchronicle.com

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Mexican restaurant Don Pisto’s says goodbye to North Beach. The 14-year-old restaurant will close permanently on June 23, they announced on Instagram, Tablehopper first discovered.

But that’s not the end of Don Pisto’s — in 16 months, the restaurant will reopen in Baja California.

“We want to thank all of our loyal guests, amazing neighbors and friends we’ve made along the way,” Don Pisto’s Instagram post read. “We would like to say a special thank you to all of our amazing employees and friends in the North Beach restaurant industry for their support. It’s been a great 14 years and we hope to see you all at our new location in Baja.”

SFGATE was unable to reach Don Pisto’s owner, Pete Mrabe, for comment in time for publication.

Don Pisto’s opened in 2010 and turned heads with its guacamole-topped hamburguesa and bottomless brunch. In 2018, former San Francisco Chronicle food critic Michael Bauer praised Don Pisto’s for its unique take on Mexican dishes, specifically a 2-pound lobster cooked in pork fat and served with tortillas, beans, and rice.

“I don’t know of any other Mexican restaurant that offers a hamburger, but then again, I don’t know of any other Mexican restaurant like Don Pisto’s in North Beach,” Bauer wrote.

Mrabe also owns Asian fusion spot Chubby Noodle with locations in North Beach and Cabo San Lucas. When Chubby Noodle moved from the marina to its current North Beach location in 2019, Mrabe was met with displeasure from investors. They claimed they were pushed out of the resettlement, Eater reported at the time. That same year, a former colleague filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Mrabe and Chubby Noodle, but it was eventually settled.

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It was October 1988 in San Francisco. The Nordstrom Building opened at Fifth Street and Market Street, and San Francisco was very skeptical about its chances of success.

Among them were the owners of the shop.

“Who says we’re confident?” Co-Chairman Jim Nordstrom told The Chronicle on the eve of the store’s opening day. “We’re not that confident.”

The SF Nordstrom — which spanned 336,000 square feet across four floors of the Westfield San Francisco Center — was an incredibly dangerous business venture, but it had lasting repercussions.

Huge sales in the first year encouraged other projects, from car parks to museums to the Metreon. An area once considered the city’s Skid Row and warehouse district suddenly became rich with opportunity as the city center shifted south of Market Street. Nordstrom left so Salesforce Tower, East Cut, and China Basin could run.

When Nordstrom announced it would be closing its Westfield store and a Nordstrom Rack location across the street this summer, it was flagged as another symbol of failure in the city and the latest major loss for downtown San Francisco. This analysis is not entirely wrong. Indeed, the Westfield San Francisco Center has plunged into uncertainty and possible chaos. (I’ve never been happier that I don’t own a Foot Locker franchise there.)

And yet, from 30,000 feet up — with the help of The Chronicle archives — it’s hard to see Nordstrom’s tenure as anything but a savage success.

Dec 8, 1970: The Emporium on Market Street was a popular place for working class people in San Francisco.

Arthur Frisch/The Chronicle

To appreciate Nordstrom’s success, we need to talk about what used to be there.

This corner of Fifth and Market was once home to a large JCPenney and a much larger Emporium retail store. It was the shopping district for the poor, with Market Street acting as a sort of invisible line between classes – the social crowd to the north frequented Union Square while the working class shopped at “The Big E” (as the Emporium was known). then went down the street to a burger at Foster’s Diner.

My grandparents, Mexican immigrants, were in the latter group. My grandfather Ray Leal bought his first suit at The Big E in 1928 for $14, my mom tells me. He later wore Penney’s work clothes to his union welding job. Immediately south of these businesses, including the grounds of SFMOMA and Moscone Center, was urban squalor. Salesforce founder Marc Benioff’s grandfather, a supervisor in San Francisco who worked with transit and helping the homeless, commissioned a documentary about the poor conditions there.

So in the 1980s, when Nordstrom – an upscale department store! – in Union Square for a building on the wrong side of the market, it was considered madness. The Chronicle’s architecture critic at the time said the project could send wealthy buyers into “a war zone” and the paper suggested it was unsafe as “the wolves” come out of the tenderloin at night. It was a “filthy crossroads” and “home to shrieking preachers, beggars and sack ladies.”

On the other hand, progressives, including the ACLU, feared the area would turn into a second Union Square, driving the buskers, performers, chess players and unlucky ones away.

Oct. 7, 1988: The Nordstrom department store on Market Street in San Francisco opens to the public for the first time.Frederic Larson/The Chronicle

The Nordstrom owners have taken a Billy Beane/”Moneyball” analytical approach to the project to their credit.

BART and Muni Metro by the 1970s had cemented the city’s backbone on Market Street, which had much more room to expand and support larger crowds than Union Square, which was plagued by the congested cable cars and the 38 Geary bus route was served. Reportedly, 300,000 people—roughly the population of Sacramento in 1988—passed through the intersection of Fifth and Market each day.

The intersection was also more highway accessible. And as Jim Nordstrom pointed out, there were more hotel rooms within a three-block radius of downtown (or Center) than in all of Washington state.

“The San Francisco Center is … a symptom,” said Matt Orvick, the mall’s general manager. “It’s sort of part of an attempt to open up the city’s upscale shopping district and move it south.”

Oct. 7, 1988: The Nordstrom department store on Market Street in San Francisco opens to the public for the first time.Frederic Larson/The Chronicle

Skepticism in San Francisco had never vanished faster than on opening day at the Nordstrom.

Thousands queued outside the store when it opened at 9:30 a.m., and any hasty predictions of the sinking were immediately erased.

Critics and some Nordstrom executives had questioned the store’s design, which used curved escalators (and a few express elevators) to slowly filter the crowds toward Nordstrom’s merchandise on the top three floors. It broke all retail rules for easy access and impulse buying.

But the San Franciscans embraced the layout like ants serving their queen. Photos from day one show delighted shoppers moving upstairs and queuing for everything, including acquiring the store’s credit card.

“By midday, 60,000 shoppers had come to browse and shop, making the escalator line about as long as that for the Matterhorn ride at Disneyland,” wrote San Francisco Examiner columnist Rob Morse the next day. “It was a wild scene of mass consumerism. As a friend of mine said, Nordstrom isn’t a business, it’s a cult.”

The mall hired 18 valet attendants, but that wasn’t enough. The upscale store, complete with a champagne bar, spa, fireplace and piano player, had sales of $2 million on day one. It had what Nordstrom officials later called “without a doubt…our strongest opening in Nordstrom history.”

Oct. 7, 1988: The Nordstrom department store on Market Street in San Francisco opens to the public for the first time.Frederic Larson/The Chronicle

I returned to San Francisco in 1999 after 11 years on the Central Coast and Hollywood to discover that some of the largest post-Nordstrom dominoes were falling south of Market.

The Metreon and the Old Navy Flagship Store (with sandwiches) were completed that year, and city leaders had moved an old Playland-at-the-Beach carousel to Yerba Buena Gardens. Opened in 1996 on Howard and Fourth Streets, SFMOMA was another upscale hit on Market’s “bad side”. Next up was the Contemporary Jewish Museum on Mission Street.

Perhaps more importantly, the “San Francisco-ness” of this block of Market Street has remained, with authentic characters including the preachers, the guy who puts your name on a grain of rice, kids selling rap CDs, and a few the same street artists were there in the 1980s.

The store in 2023 remains the only Nordstrom in the Bay Area — maybe in the entire world? — where you can step outside and buy a bacon-wrapped hot dog within half a block. I think that’s a very good thing; a situation that in 1988 would have been considered an almost impossible best-case scenario to achieve.

What’s next for the San Francisco Center?

Maybe it’ll bounce back with a new anchor. Maybe after Big E and Nordstrom there’s a third act that we’re not even thinking about. (See Ferry Building, Pier 39, Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, and a dozen other San Francisco institutions pronounced dead before dramatic rebirths with much hand-wringing.)

Or maybe it is indeed doomed, with more retail theft, violence, and fleeing retail chains.

But the problem with taking all good things that come to an end as a sign of the apocalypse is not knowing the bigger picture. Nordstrom brought incredible momentum to the South of Market. After it’s gone, we’ll continue to benefit from museum visits, bike trails, carousel rides, Giants games, jazz at Yerba Buena Gardens, and IMAX movies at the Metreon.

The Chronicle wrote in 1988: “(Nordstrom) is being hailed as either the sharpest business decision since the marketing of sliced ​​bread or the worst commercial blunder since Titanic’s maiden voyage.”

There was and is no iceberg on Fifth Street and Market Street. Just a complicated corner where Nordstrom thrived for 35 years — and made this town better over time.

Reach Peter Hartlaub: phartlaub@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @PeterHartlaub

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