Two Massive Retailers Now Pull Out of A Major Mall

March 5, 2024

Two massive retailers now pull out of a major mall after it announced plans to make some changes, sources report.

The former Westfield San Francisco Centre has been renamed the Emporium Centre as the new owners attempt to return it to retail prosperity, reports The-Sun.

The new name pays homage to the historic shopping center that occupied the Market Street site for over a century, says the outlet.

After more than two decades operating as San Francisco Center, Westfield stopped making loan payments and handed over the keys to its lender in June last year.

Annual sales had plunged from $455 million in 2019 to $298 million in 2022, Retail Dive initially reported at the time.

In the latest in a series of setbacks for the new owners, French cosmetics purveyors L’Occitane and Sephora will no longer operate in the mall, the San Francisco Business Times first reported.

L’Occitane has reportedly already shuttered its first-floor outpost and the Market Street location is no longer on the company website.

Sephora, whose North American headquarters is in San Francisco, California, is closing in mid-April, employees told Business Times.

The Emporium property, famed for its skylit central domed rotunda, was transformed into an addition for the Westfield mall and is mainly occupied by Bloomingdale’s, which has five floors.

After a slow start, the nine-story mall became one of the top performing shopping centers in the country, but news of its latest transformation has sparked a domino effect of desertion from retailers, reports The-Sun.

The Century Theatres multiplex closed in June 2023.

The LEGO store shut in November. Adidas’ 2-story store closed in January this year.

J Crew, Hollister, Aldo and Madewell have also left.

The mall’s new owners announced the name change last week, saying it was a nod to the original name of the department store that operated there from 1896 to 1996 before Westfield took over.

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Also Read: Clothing Retailer Now Makes Painful Decision To Close All Stores

Other Economy News Today

A beloved retailer with 850 stores will now file bankruptcy in days after launching a massive liquidation sale, sources report.

The revelation comes days after a Joann store in Ohio launched a 90% off closing-down sale, reports The-Sun.

The fabric and craft specialty retailer has about 850 outlets across about 50 states.

But its bosses are currently considering lodging a bankruptcy filing as soon as next week, claimed Bloomberg.

Joann is currently looking into entering a special deal with lenders to help it shed spiraling debt.

Secret talks are underway to see whether the firm can get extra capital to help shore up cash reserves, the business website added, citing unnamed sources.

The news comes days after Joann’s Wooster store in Ohio held a massive 90% off sale, including sewing patterns for $1.99.

The outlet closed on February 21, one month after the shuttering of the Joann’s Zanesville branch in the same state, said local Fox affiliate WJW.

Both the closures and bankruptcy fears follow months of discussion among shoppers on social media about the Hudson-based retailer.

A shopper wrote on Facebook, “Sad news if Joann fabric closes, but they shouldn’t have resorted to cheapening the quality of their fabric for one thing.”

And another woman commenting on the Bloomberg story about Joann planning a bankruptcy filing added, “Wow, they just opened one [store] here in La Habra, California in October 2023.”

Here’s what Credit Risk Monitor had to say:

“No two public companies are cut from the exact same cloth, yet the telltale signs of potential bankruptcy shown by craft retailer JOANN Inc. are universal: lots of leverage, recurring net losses, and negative free cash flow,” warned CreditRiskMonitor last December.

Joann has struggled amid a challenging environment for retailers, said Moody’s Investors Service.

The chain was established in 1948, and offers both online and in-store shopping.

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Also Read: 68 Essential Stores Are Now Closing in Pennsylvania

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