In a further sign of decline, San Francisco has now seen 20 bank branches shut down this year, which is the most in a single year since before the year 2000. As major retailers flee the doomed city, there’s simply no reason for many banks to remain open there. They don’t have any major customers left.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the closures are “from the central Richmond District in the west to Mission Bay in the east, from Fort Mason in the north to Bayview in the south.” During 2021 and 2022, the city only saw fewer than ten banks shut their doors.
California has seen 277 bank branches shutter their doors this year. That’s the second-highest amount since 2020 when Gov. Gavin Newsom forced businesses to stay on lockdown to protect against COVID while he was having dinner at the French Laundry.
The city’s progressive policies like no-cash bail, legalized shoplifting, and defunding the police have caused so many business closures that the writing is now on the wall. Nordstrom shut down both of its iconic stores in Downtown San Francisco. The first Whole Foods store in the nation closed its doors. The Westfield San Francisco Centre Mall could no longer afford to keep its doors open because too many retailers had called it quits.
On top of all those struggles, many of the city’s high-earning tech employees realized they could still do their jobs remotely during the pandemic without having to pay sky-high prices to rent in a place that increasingly smells like a country outhouse on a hot day.
The city has gotten so bad that Market Street, one of the most recognizable shopping districts on the entire planet, no longer has any stores or banks open. Watch this YouTuber as he takes a stroll down Market Street, where there’s not a single store that is still open: