San Francisco businesses in Union Square say recovery is slow despite holidays
Despite the beginning of the holiday shopping season, San Francisco's Union Square has seemed somewhat empty the past few days.
But there are signs of life for an area that's been struggling since before the start of the pandemic.
"These are all the items that are being shipped from over the weekend on Cyber Monday for today," said Masoud Attar of the stack of boxes in the corner of his business.
For Attar, those online sales have helped fill some of the void left by the drop in foot traffic, primarily tourist traffic, at his Union Square menswear store Uomo.
"There's not that many left," he said of the famed shopping district. "Nordstrom is closed. Saks is closed."
He opened his business 38 years ago. He said things started getting difficult in 2017 before the pandemic made things nearly impossible. So where are things now?
"Things turned around a little bit in the last year," he said. "But we feel that San Francisco has really bad negative publicity."
"I would gauge the trajectory as positive," said Marisa Rodriguez, CEO of the Union Square Alliance. "We are picking up momentum. We are seeing businesses coming back who are interested in the city center. It's an iconic city center and gravity pulls us here."
Rodriguez said the district is showing signs of a recovery that will take time.
"This isn't something that changes overnight," she added. "This is a process. It takes focus and strategy to really rebuild the momentum."
"I think a little bit of positive publicity would be good for the city," Attar said. "I hope the new mayor will be a business-minded person."
Back in February, now Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie made a campaign event out of the sale of the Macy's building. Now, there's word that there are several possible local investors though Macy's future remains uncertain.
"But we're really excited for what else they might have planned for the space," Rodriguez said of the building. "Is it housing? Is it a five-star hotel?"
And on the subject of hotels, Rodriguez commented on the protests.
"I am very sympathetic with people," Attar said of the protests across the street from his business. "Because I know some of the people from the lobby of the hotel. The bartenders and the doorman."
Attar was one of a number of business owners who said the ongoing hotel strike isn't helping an already difficult situation.
"It is really, really disturbing," he said. "We closed our door, but the noise really bothered our customers."
But he said the protests, like the city's wounded reputation, can be resolved. And he's hopeful that new leadership will, in time, find solutions.
"I think the city has great potential," he said, optimistically. "We just have to use it correctly."
There's a lot of attention on the holidays, but talking to business interests, they're already looking ahead.
There is a JP Morgan conference in January, considered one of the largest on the calendar. Then, the NBA All-Star game in February.
So, the hope is to carry some momentum into the next year, as Union Square looks for the kind of new footing that might take a while.
