T-Mobile becomes San Francisco's latest retail casualty as phone carrier shutters flagship store

T-Mobile joined a growing list of companies that have moved out of San Francisco’s downtown area in recent months. 

T-Mobile’s two-story flagship location in San Francisco’s Union Square neighborhood was permanently shuttered, with a note now directing customers to instead visit two other locations in the city, according to the San Francisco Business Times. 

The building broke price records for the area back when it was sold in 2013 at $50 million, according to the outlet, but now the building joins other properties sitting vacant in the city. The 17,000-square-foot space was previously occupied for decades by an Apple flagship location until it moved to a large location in 2016. 

T-Mobile told Fox News Digital when asked about the closure that the company "recently reshaped our nationwide retail strategy to better take care of customers."

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"This includes plans we’ve made in this area and a few others to move away from the Signature Store format in some cities to instead serve customers through a nearby Experience store," the T-Mobile representative added. The company recently announced "Experience" stores that can handle many customer issues and feature the latest T-Mobile devices, while also offering a more laid-back environment compared to traditional brick and mortar locations. 

A T-Mobile employee at a different location in the city told SFGate that the closure occurred about a month ago, adding that staff would "probably get transferred to other stores." 

This notches the third storefront in a row in Union Square that sits unoccupied, joining a 19,000-square-foot building on Stockton Street that previously had a storefront for Armani Exchange, and a 10,387-square-foot space that was previously home to a Disney store location, according to the San Francisco Business Times. 

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Nearby, another storefront sits empty on Ellis Street, after the furniture company CB2 moved out of the location in January.

Union Square is one of San Francisco’s premiere shopping neighborhoods and is located in the city’s downtown area. Other stores downtown have also announced plans to close this year, including Saks Off 5th on Market Street, which will close in the fall, while Nordstrom announced this month it will shutter two locations downtown this summer. 

Nordstrom told SFGate of the closures that "the dynamics of the downtown San Francisco market have changed dramatically over the past several years, impacting customer foot traffic to our stores and our ability to operate successfully."

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A spokesperson for a mall where one of the Nordstrom shops is located told the outlet that "a growing number of retailers and businesses are leaving the area due to the unsafe conditions for customers, retailers, and employees, coupled with the fact that these significant issues are preventing an economic recovery of the area." 

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San Francisco has been the site of repeated smash and grab robberies in recent years, while a few stores have closed since the pandemic, when foot traffic cratered during lockdowns. Shoplifting issues have plagued many stores across the city, with the police force staking out retail locations late last year to help curb the crimes.