SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 16, 2022–(BUSINESS WIRE)–San Francisco Equity Partners (SFEP), a private equity firm focused exclusively on partnering with lower middle market companies across the consumer value chain, announced today that it has acquired DGS Retail (DGS), a leading provider of décor, signage, fixtures, displays and other critical products to customers in the grocery, retail, foodservice and consumer brand end markets. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

From its origin as a small signage-focused business, DGS now manages a skilled workforce across multiple operating divisions and facilities that provide design, procurement, manufacturing and installation services across multiple product categories. The company provides a single source for a broad range of offerings to help customers define and improve their image, environment and consumer experience within brick-and-mortar locations.

“DGS has an impressive track record of growth built on strong, long-term relationships with a large and diverse base of national and regional customers,” said SFEP Partner David Mannix. “The DGS team has built a broad set of capabilities through both organic growth and synergistic acquisitions, which enable the company to compete and win in a large and extremely fragmented market.”

“SFEP’s experience working with both consumer brands and business-to-business companies serving consumer end markets makes this an ideal partnership for us,” said DGS CEO Peter Stevens. “Partnering with SFEP will give DGS greater access to operational resources and capital to drive growth.”

The acquisition of DGS exemplifies SFEP’s commitment to partnering with leading B2B companies serving large consumer end markets. “Through a unique combination of consumer industry experience and our operationally intensive investment approach, we are able to deliver compelling outcomes for our stakeholders,” said SFEP Managing Partner Scott Potter. “We believe DGS has tremendous growth potential and we’re excited to partner with Peter and his exceptional team.”

Story continues

About DGS Retail

DGS is a leading provider of décor, signage, fixtures, displays and other critical products to the grocery, retail, foodservice and consumer brand end markets. DGS’ operations span four divisions and over 400,000 square feet across five facilities in Massachusetts, Florida, Illinois, Wisconsin and California. The company provides a broad range of solutions and is one of only a few companies that can deliver décor, signage, fixtures, and displays at scale to national and large regional customers. For more information, visit www.customretailbydgs.com.

About San Francisco Equity Partners

San Francisco Equity Partners is a private equity firm focused exclusively on partnering with lower middle market companies across the consumer value chain. To each of its partner companies, SFEP serves as an extension of the management team and provides both extensive operating experience and a broad network of relationships across the consumer products landscape. For more information, please visit www.sfequitypartners.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221116005171/en/

Contacts

Jeff Fox
The Blueshirt Group (for San Francisco Equity Partners)
415-828-8298
jeff@blueshirtgroup.com

The post San Francisco Fairness Companions Acquires Majority Stake in DGS Retail appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Retail openings popped off in 2021, a year that bucked the trend of closures outpacing openings, a phenomenon that was supercharged by the pandemic.

• This year is keeping the pace: By the end of January, announced store closures (742) were down 65% YoY, according to Coresight Research. Openings, on the other hand, stood at 1,910—a 3% bump.

With demand for brick-and-mortar space trending up, where will retailers open up shop? Well, some in the real-estate industry believe mixed-use space is part of the answer.

“If you’re a single-use facility, you’re not going to be able to compete because you only got one type of offering,” JF Finn, principal at architecture firm Gensler, told Retail Brew. “Flexibility and multiple uses are why mixed-use has become such a driver for everybody—because it has the ability to create the synergy and the creative value around it.”

A whole new look: San Francisco’s 100 Stockton used to be a single-use property—a former Macy’s that is now under redevelopment for mixed use. Gensler started renovating and retrofitting the building in 2017, and it will now include 200,000 square feet of retail space and ~50,000 square feet of office space.

• The surrounding area includes retailers like Neiman Marcus, Louis Vuitton, and Chanel, plus several luxury hotels, making it attractive for new retailers to set up shop, Finn noted.
• The redevelopment is still underway, but restaurant Chotto Matte plans to open there this year.

Ben Tranel, principal at Gensler who has worked on the new development, said the space, originally built in the 1970s, didn’t open itself up to the city in a way that was inviting before.

“It wasn’t engaging with the city around it at all. In fact, it turned its back on the city,” he said. “Why a retailer would be attracted to that space now—any mixed-use project—is that you’re going to have a more continuous presence of people in that environment. It’s not a monoculture where people are only going there for the transactional purpose to shop.”

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Give me options: The key to a successful mixed-use project is diversity—diversity of retailers, restaurants, activations, and office or residential space that keeps a continuous flow of people in and around the development, Tranel continued.

But what that mix will look like depends on the location and the needs of the community, Finn said. The retailers and businesses that are drawn to 100 Stockton may be different from other developments, like Gensler’s The Hub on Causeway project in Boston.

• The latter, for example, wasn’t going to be greenlit unless there were plans to build a grocery store, since that area of ​​the city is a food desert, according to Finn. “We’re very much about lining that up to where the gaps were and to what the community would need and react to and then building upon that,” he said.

Looking ahead…More projects could be coming down the pipeline. Between 2010 and 2020, mixed-use development in Montgomery County, a suburb of Washington, DC, made up nearly half of new commercial and multifamily developments delivered, according to an August study from the county’s Planning Department’s Research and Strategic Projects Division.

• The study found these figures to be in line with trends across the US, with mixed-use construction increasing to 60% nationwide as of last year.

Where the projects could pop up is anyone’s guess, but Finn noted that urban or more dense environments are ripe for mixed-use development, albeit with some risks.

“[In] the downtown environment, the property is limited—it’s valuable. The infrastructure that goes with it is really valuable,” Finn said. “And so the risk associated with that is much, much higher to put in something that doesn’t play well or that doesn’t have longevity.”

The post Why brick-and-mortar retail ought to take into account shifting into mixed-use developments appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Retailers in sectors that have seen outsized gains from U.S. consumers are capitalizing on the favorable market for tenants that exists in most urban corridors. That’s one of the key takeaways from JLL’s City Retail 2022 report, which found that home goods, athleisure and outdoors retailers are taking the lead in urban leasing. The report also found that while landlords are still open to negotiation, pandemic-related concessions such as percent-sale rent are increasingly harder to come by.

Here are a few of the companies moving into the nation’s urban corridors.

Activewear/Outdoors
• Vuori, a direct-to-consumer activewear brand with a $4 billion valuation, plans to open 100 stores in the U.S. over the next five years. Vuori opened on Abbot Kinney in Los Angeles this past summer next to a handful of other DTC brands.

• Lululemon opened a pop-up-turned-permanent store also on Abbot Kinney and expanded its location on Robson in Vancouver.

• Alo Yoga will be moving into The Superette, a new Seaport development in Boston. Developed by WS Development, The Superette will open by summer 2022 with 40 stores, restaurants and entertainment venues built around a central courtyard.

Outdoor clothing retailers have also been busy.

• Arc’teryx opened three stores over the past year and a half: along West 4th in Vancouver, in Union Square in San Francisco (one of the only 2020 deals in the corridor) and in SoHo in New York City.

• Icebreaker, an outdoor clothing retailer that specializes in merino wool, relocated to North Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

• Blocks away in the Gold Coast corridor, Wilson Sporting Goods opened its first brick-and-mortar location this past summer. The company opened its second store in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood in late January.

[Read More: First Look: Wilson Sporting Goods celebrates sports, play at NYC flagship]

Home Goods
• Joybird, a DTC home furnishings retailer, has opened several stores over the past year including on Melrose in Los Angeles and is expected to move into the former Williams-Sonoma location in the Marina in San Francisco.

• Avocado Green Mattress moved onto M Street in Washington, DC. The Sill, which began as an online plant delivery business and now has physical stores in five cities, opened on Newbury Street in Boston in the fourth quarter of 2021

Lease Negotiations: Back to business
Throughout 2020, landlords made concessions unheard of on prime urban corridors, according to the report. Rents came down and more months of free rent were given. There were also far more lease covenants, increased tenant improvement allowances, kickout clauses and shorter terms.

However, as rent collection improved in late 2020 and into 2021, percent sales and rent relief agreements have become rarer, the report noted. While rents haven’t returned to pre-COVID levels in most corridors and markets are still tenant-favorable, it is (mostly) back to business in terms of traditional lease negotiations. Incentives still exist, especially for the first year, terms are shorter, pandemic language exists — but many of the drastic concessions are 2020 history, JLL reported.

The JLL report can be downloaded here.

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Over the past month, our city has been caught in the crossfire of attacks on criminal justice reform following multiple high-profile thefts from luxury stores in the Bay Area and across the country — including San Francisco’s Union Square. The all too common response to these crimes has been calls for more policing and attacks on progressive reform, but these knee-jerk responses are short-sighted. To achieve lasting public safety, we need to think differently about these crimes. If we really care about preventing these crimes – like others – then we need to implement the systemic changes needed to make a real difference.

While these crimes have understandably frightened store associates and shocked those who watched viral videos capturing the events, these types of thefts, in which multiple people run into a store and steal items, are not new — reports of similar crimes abound years back. They happened during the Trump administration, and they happened in cities like Los Angeles under the previous rule of an anti-reform prosecutor. Nor are they isolated to the Bay Area or even progressive cities — retailers in Texas, Minnesota, Florida and beyond were all targets.

Still, some mistakenly blame criminal justice reforms—and reformers—for these crimes. Some have falsely accused progressive prosecutors like me of not being held accountable, despite my firm’s high prosecution rates for these types of crimes and our transparency on filing rates. And some have pointed to laws like Proposition 47 — which reduced some theft and drug possession charges to misdemeanor — as somehow responsible for those crimes. These are diversionary maneuvers.

Although Fox News might have you think otherwise, the truth is that as the District Attorney of San Francisco, I hold accountable those arrested in connection with the Union Square crimes. My office has filed criminal complaints against every person the San Francisco Police Department has arrested for these crimes. We presented evidence at a preliminary hearing where a judge agreed that there is probable cause to proceed for all offenses except looting – a reminder that aggressive charges do not necessarily lead to convictions. Accountability is important and my office is pursuing it vigorously, as we have done in 86% of the commercial burglary cases brought to us by the police this year. For comparison, police arrested just 8.8% of commercial burglaries this year.

Organized retail theft is not a problem that can be tackled through law enforcement solutions alone – they come after a crime has been committed. Public safety is the shared responsibility of police, city officials, prosecutors and courts — and also requires help from retailers, community groups, healthcare providers and community members. State and city officials make laws; police investigated and arrested; prosecutors bring charges and prosecute; and the courts dismiss or arrest and convict. Prosecutors receive cases only after a crime has occurred and the police have made an arrest. Fighting crime can only happen through a sense of shared responsibility.

Blaming legislative reform is also wrong. Reversing Proposition 47 would not solve the problems we now face. California’s $950 theft threshold is still among the lowest in the country — 38 states have a threshold of $1,000 or more — and Texas has a $2,500 threshold. Proposition 47 was also passed seven years ago and a decline in property crimes has followed. Its passage did not prevent prosecutors from prosecuting those responsible for organized retail theft; For example, all charges in Union Square were still felonies.

To prevent these crimes before they happen and ensure long-term public safety, we must focus on supporting victims and tackling the root causes of crime, rather than one-sidedly on law enforcement responses or pushing back on reforms.

Police stand guard outside the boarded up windows of the Louis Vuitton store in Union Square in San Francisco on Tuesday, November 23, 2021.

Charles Russo/SFGATE

Supporting victims means meeting the needs of all victims, not just the powerful or wealthy. The focus on increased surveillance to support high-end retailers has meant victims of theft targeting smaller businesses – including numerous Chinatown stores – have been largely overlooked. These incidents have not received mainstream media attention, and the city has not invested the same resources in protecting these businesses as the larger corporations in Union Square.

I have often found that we talk about punishing the perpetrators, but not about making amends for the harm done to the victims. Last year, my office ran a District 5 Victim Services pilot that compensated small businesses that experienced vandalism. This pilot project has now been extended to the whole city. I have significantly expanded our firm’s victim services department, hiring for the first time attorneys dedicated to serving victims of property crime.

Long-term security for all people requires more from us than simply responding to crime. We must work to reduce crime. Investing in the social safety net – which keeps everyone safe – goes a long way. Affordable housing, quality education, access to health care, and addiction services can provide the stability that empirical evidence suggests actually deters criminal activity.

Of course, not all crimes are crimes of desperation. We should focus our resources on opportunists who are intentionally trying to commit these crimes — like prosecutors my office announced Monday following a large-scale retail organized theft.

We are at a turning point in San Francisco; we run the risk of making fear-driven decisions. We should not go back to the days of jailing every person who committed even the smallest misdemeanor – a practice that not only failed to stop crime, but also had a disproportionately large impact on over-watched communities of color. Returning to these criminal justice policies offers no solution. We can have both security and justice.

I am committed to a comprehensive response that investigates, identifies and holds those responsible, supports victims, and prevents future crimes. Only through this multifaceted approach will we be able to build better, safer and more just communities.

Chesa Boudin is the District Attorney of San Francisco.

The post We’re blaming the mistaken issues for San Francisco retail theft appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

REDWOOD CITY (CBS SF) – A 24-year-old man was arrested after allegedly targeting numerous Home Depot stores in the Bay Area and stealing thousands of dollars in goods.

Redwood City Police said Eric Crossman was detained in the San Mateo County Jail for commercial break-in, possession of stolen property, resisting arrest, and possession of a controlled substance.

CONTINUE READING: Scott Peterson returns to the San Mateo County courtroom for re-sentencing Wednesday

Police said he was arrested after a clue led them to Crossman, which led to an investigation into his role in a possible organized retail theft.

CONTINUE READING: Cloverdale convenience store suspect wanted for armed robbery

Detectives conducted a suspended search of the Crossman’s home and found over 80 stolen items from various Home Depot stores in the Bay Area. Most of the items seized were high quality power tools and electronics. The total value of the items was over $ 14,000.

The goods were stolen from Home Depots in San Carlos, San Mateo, Colma, Pittsburg, Brentwood, and San Jose.

MORE NEWS: Arrest in East San Jose Fatal Hit – & – Run

Anyone with additional information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact Detective Sergeant Nick Perna at 650-780-7672 or the Redwood City Police Department tipline at 650-780-7110.

The post Redwood Metropolis Retail Theft Suspect Arrested; Stolen Residence Depot Merchandise Recovered – CBS San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Good morning, California. It’s Monday, November 22nd.

Targeted high-end stores

A pedestrian walks past an empty storefront on Powell Street in the Union Square shopping district of San Francisco on June 14, 2021. Photo: Anne Wernikoff, CalMatters

Evidence that crime is likely to be a central theme for California voters in 2022 can be found this weekend.

On Sunday, a pack of looters raided a jewelry store in a Hayward shopping center, smashed glass cases and fled the valuables in waiting cars. Also on Sunday, Walnut Creek police recommended that businesses close earlier, citing information that the 80 thieves who ransacked a north stream on Saturday night could strike again. Officials labeled the Nordstrom robbery “organized retail theft” and said it may have been linked to a series of break-ins in San Francisco on Friday night.

In San Francisco, social media videos showed masked looters sprinting from high-end Union Square stores – including Louis Vuitton, Yves Saint Laurent, Burberry and Bloomingdale’s – with arms full of thousands of dollars’ worth of stolen goods. Police arrested eight suspects and confiscated two cars and two guns, while Mayor London Breed announced plans to restrict vehicle access to Union Square to prevent thieves from escaping in getaway cars.

In addition to the city’s troubles, the San Francisco Chronicle published a wealth of stories over the weekend suggesting residents are becoming increasingly frustrated with responding to crime – and fear for their own safety. A resident’s garage was broken into nine times in two days; Video surveillance footage showed the thief strolling leisurely, as if “not afraid of being caught”. And San Francisco’s martial arts academies, locksmiths, and home security firms are seeing a huge surge in demand.

Meanwhile, a group of children, teachers, and parents of the Tenderloin handed a letter to Breed’s secretary asking the mayor to review conditions in the neighborhood, which include an open-air fentanyl market, frequent gun violence and attempts at old age from 9 years old. One of the city’s proposals for a solution: the opening of a supervised injection site for drugs.

In addition to the crime headlines, a stray bullet fatally hit a 13-year-old Pasadena boy playing video games in his bedroom on Saturday.

• Neighbor Stewart Baynes: “We heard the sirens and knew it was another shootout. It’s getting so damn ridiculous out here. “

The spate of shoplifting and shootings could bring San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin – a progressive prosecutor who faces dismissal in June and responsible for shop closings – and Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón, whose policy is controversial, the subject of controversy is facing challenges from a recent deep dive of the New York Times Magazine and a second attempt to recall it. The trends could also prove momentous in the 2022 election, when voters vote California’s next top cop.

The slumps are another setback for companies trying to recover from the pandemic and address persistent staffing shortages. Although the Golden State’s unemployment rate fell to 7.3% in October as the state created 96,800 jobs, California still has the highest unemployment rate in the country with Nevada, according to the Employment Development Department.

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Conclusion on the coronavirus: As of Saturday, California had 4,758,297 confirmed cases (+ 0.1% from the previous day) and 73,000 Deaths (+ 0.2% from the previous day), according to country data. CalMatters is also tracking coronavirus-related hospital stays by county.

California managed 56.996.463 Vaccination doses, and 67.1% of eligible Californians are fully vaccinated.

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Other stories to know

1. Turpin case exposes state, local failures

Image via iStock

California’s complex network of social services was put to the test following an ABC News special Friday report of the 13 Turpin siblings rescued in 2018 from the Riverside County home where their parents had subjected them to years of brutal torture and abuse. But prosecutors and attorneys – along with several of the Turpin siblings – say one horror has been exchanged for another as gaping holes in the county and state social safety nets collide with the secrecy of California’s strict Conservatory laws and sealed court records, the one effectively prevent public scrutiny. Among the findings:

• The siblings – who were between 2 and 29 years old at the time of the rescue – were prevented from accessing much of the $ 600,000 in private donations they received.
• The court-appointed public guardian overseeing the trust has denied some of the siblings’ requests for financial assistance and restricted their access to food, health care, transportation, stable housing and education.
• The seven minor siblings were placed in nursing homes overseen by an agency with a long history of suspected verbal and physical abuse. One of the families is charged with allegedly mistreating several foster children, including one of the Turpins; five Turpin children lived in this house for three years while the alleged abuse took place.

“They live in misery,” said Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin, who was prosecuting Turpin’s parents. “This is inconceivable to me – that we could have the worst case of child abuse I have ever seen and then we would not be able to bring them together to meet their basic needs.” The county has an independent investigation ordered how his public guardian’s office handled the Turpin case, the results of which are due to be released in March.

2. Supply ripples jeopardize medical care

The Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro on September 29, 2021. Photo by Mike Blake, Reuters

Henry Genung, 18 months old, has a rare genetic mutation that requires a rubber tracheostomy tube to help him breathe. The hose is said to be replaced weekly to minimize the risk of infection – but Henry’s parents have not been able to get a new one for months due to a lack of medical care due to a congestion of ships in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The scarcity is driving inflation rates and health care costs higher, which experts say will likely lead to higher premiums and limited coverage for California’s poorest residents. To make matters worse, the attempts by federal and state heads to prioritize the transport of health goods are hindered by a lack of data: not only does nobody know how many ships are carrying medical care, but also the contents of certain containers themselves are often unknown. reports Kristen Hwang from CalMatters.

Speaking of bottlenecks, California’s understaffed airports are preparing for a massive surge in travelers ahead of Thanksgiving. LAX and most of the Bay Area airports are expected to serve twice as many people as they did last year. “We are seeing demand at levels that are at or near COVID. But airlines as an industry still have tens of thousands fewer employees, ”Henry Harteveldt, president of Atmosphere Research Group, told Mercury News. Experts say travelers should be prepared for delays every step of their journey: taxi drivers serving Mineta San Jose International Airport, for example, are preparing to grapple Thanksgiving over a dispute with the airport’s new taxi company. And car-traveling Californians will face their own challenges – rising gasoline prices that drove the price of a liter of tip over $ 6 in remote Mono County.

3. California environment update

A helicopter drops water on the KNP Complex Fire in Sequoia National Park on September 15, 2021. Photo by Noah Berger, AP Photo

At the risk of doing the same pun twice, here’s a California update on earth, wind, fire, and water:

Support CalMatters

We strive to explain how state government affects our lives. Your support helps us produce journalism that makes a difference. Thanks very much!

CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: We still don’t know if California’s plan to fill the public school achievement gap is working.

Billions in funding for forest fires just one down payment: Almost half of the money the state raised this year was one-time funding – but large annual investments will be required for the foreseeable future, argues Stacy Corless, of the Rural County Representatives of California.

A model for combating climate change: Something remarkable is happening in the San Fernando Valley communities of Pacoima and Sun Valley: a little-known government program called Transformative Climate Communities, write Emi Wang of the Greenlining Institute and Dora Frietze-Armenta of Pacoima Beautiful.

Other things worth your time

Editorial: California lawmakers dine with lobbyists in Maui. Why is this legal? // Los Angeles times

The mysterious removal of the legislature from the committee Post is condemned. // LGBTQ nation

California Governor Pardoned 2 in recognition of the Native American people. // Associated press

Outgoing MP Jackie Speier’s idea to fix Washington: compulsory retirement at 75. // San Francisco Chronicle

How women took on leadership roles in California protests against masks, vaccines. // Sacramento bee

Mayor offers to extend a $ 26.6 million loan to the school district – with conditions. // San Francisco Chronicle

Alameda County could intervene in Oakland Unified about budget concerns. // The Oaklandside

SEIU Local 1000 Presidential Post Credit card statements online. // Sacramento bee

Audits, internal documents show problems for sure, test failure in the San Diego Crime Lab. // San Diego Union Grandstand

It is the last California prison used by the ICE. And he’s the only immigrant prisoner in it. // San Francisco Chronicle

Protesters demand renaming Squaw Valley Parish. // CalMatters

A black art gallery owner in South LA fights against gentrification. // Los Angeles times

California Housing “Affordability Gap” near the pre-crash level. // Mercury news

Californians flee the coast to inland cities in a mass exodus of the pandemic era. // Wall Street Journal

The newest Texan are not who you think they are. // Texas monthly

Money overflow on the freeway in San Diego: The police ask drivers to give money back or risk fees. // Washington Post

See you tomorrow.

Tips, insights or feedback? Email to emily@calmatters.org.

Follow me on Twitter: @emily_hoeven

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The post Looting in San Francisco: Retail theft sweeps Bay Space appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

UNITED STATES — We are all involved in it, some far more than others, I’m talking about retail therapy. It seems in 2020, during the pandemic, that we were all safe from getting involved. When I talk about retail therapy, I actually mean visiting people in the brick and mortar stores. Online shopping doesn’t. Why? There are some big differences between the two, even if people seem to think that it is NOT.

So is retail therapy a good thing or a bad thing? Well it depends on the situation. If you are spending money because there are things you need, you are in a good place. However, if you are spending your money on the simple fact, then we have something to discuss. Goods are end-of-the-day goods and when you buy items that are never used, why did you originally buy that item?

I’ll argue in June 2020, July 2020, August 2020, I found some of the best and I mean the best deals at retailers. You need to keep in mind that so many retailers had closed their doors to the public for around 3 to 4 months in order to implement COVID-19 protocols and find ways to keep their employees and customers safe. I mean folks, I bought Levi jeans for $ 5 at some top department stores. I’ve bought designer shoes that I thought I couldn’t have bought in a million years at 75 to 80 percent discounts.

Retailers had a huge amount of previous or current season inventory to get rid of. As a result, the consumer has got bargain after bargain that you will NEVER see, and I mean, people will NEVER see again. That’s the unfortunate side effect, and I hope you took advantage of it. As a result, I did a majority of my Christmas shopping in 2020 and some for 2021 last summer. The problem that some people spent a lot more than they needed and as a result, they regretted it. The buyers’ repentance that we all experience has been heavily impacted in 2020 and is really effective in 2021 with the high rates of inflation.

The pandemic has put many retailers out of business. Some focused solely on the internet and others were forced to close their doors completely. Why? Retailers couldn’t survive with their doors closed for so long. It was horrible, and I mean, it was horrible to lose retailers that have been around for decades and within a few months they have completely disappeared.

Does Retail Therapy Really Help Your Mood? Some people I know do. If they’re in a breakdown it gets them out of that breakdown for the time being, but a week later they complain about purchased items that they want to return because it was a stupid purchase that wasn’t needed. At the same time, retail therapy is a good thing for exercise. Why? It forces you to move, it’s not like sitting at the computer all day just clicking things. When you go to the mall or brick and mortar stores, you move and it is better to move than not to move.

In addition, you can interact with people, touch objects, see the fabric and actually SEE what you are going to spend your money on. You don’t have that experience when shopping online. I think that due to the current surge in inflation, retail therapy will be more urgently needed in 2021 so that people can get some stress off. Are the cost of some goods a little higher than expected?

Yes, unfortunately, but that doesn’t mean you have to break the bank. There are deals, especially now that Black Friday deals are being released earlier than ever in 2021 to give consumers a chance to do their Christmas shopping sooner than normal. Retail therapy has its pros and cons, I think there are more pros than cons, the biggest one is that you just have to be aware of what you are spending and not just buying to buy or feel better. Get things you need and sometimes give yourself to get something you want. However, remember, if you REALLY DO NOT WANT IT, DO NOT BUY IT!

Written by Zoe Mitchell

The post Retail Remedy – San Francisco Information appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

IIn mid-October, Walgreens announced the impending closure of five of its San Francisco stores. “Retail theft” has risen to an unsustainable level despite increased investments in security, the chain said. It was time to give up.

In the months leading up to the announcement, viral videos of outrageous shoplifting attempts at Walgreens locations around town – including one that appeared to show a man riding out of a store on his bike with a garbage bag filled with stolen items – had it taking center stage followed a heated national debate about fears of a pandemic-induced “crime wave”.

To critics of the San Francisco leadership, the closings seemed to confirm a narrative long held by people outside of the city and, increasingly, by those inside: that San Francisco is a lawless place where officials operate to the detriment of local businesses Turn a blind eye to crime. Political leaders, including Mayor London Breed, pointed at Walgreens. “When a place is not generating revenue and when it’s saturated – Walgreens has many Walgreens locations across the city – I think other factors come into play,” Breed told reporters.

The Walgreens Excelsior District site three weeks before its closure. Photo: Boris Zharkov / The Guardian

But neighborhood officials and lawyers for people trapped in the legal system paint a more complex picture of Walgreen’s role in San Francisco and the city’s struggles with shoplifting in recent years.

They described Walgreens stores as important places where San Franciscans can get basic groceries at a reasonable price and pick up last minute medicines and other essentials. “We have seniors, working families and long-term customers and I think it will be extremely disruptive, especially for older people who are more pattern-based,” Ahsha Safai said of the closings.

Safai represents the Excelsior District, just outside the historic Latino Mission District, on the San Francisco Board of Directors. The neighborhood’s Walgreens, which closed on November 11, were on a busy section of Mission Street, surrounded by clothing stores, banks, and local restaurants. On a Tuesday afternoon in the weeks leading up to the closure, the shop was bustling with seniors picking up items and residents waiting to be called to the pharmacy counter.

Many shoppers get off the nearby bus routes to get to the Walgreens, making it a convenient stop in a busy area where parking can be abysmal, Safai said. Pedestrian traffic from nearby stores feeds the Walgreens and vice versa, making the drugstore an important part of the neighborhood’s retail ecosystem.

Safai said he worked with police and community organizations to fight retail crime in his neighborhood. “There must be consequences for the most monstrous. People need to know that they can’t go into the store with a garbage bag, ”he said.

“But we’re not going to lock ourselves out of this problem,” he warned. “We have to steer people on the right path.”

“Walgreens were indispensable”

Gina Mullins’ father has worked for Walgreens for more than 40 years, first in the Mission District and then in the East Bay. She remembers going to company picnics as a child and, because of her family’s long history, chose the company to shop at a Walgreens instead of CVS. “Walgreens is a big, big part of my life. It sounds cheesy, but it fed my family. “

Mullins now lives in East Bay seeing her local Walgreens showing telltale signs of theft concerns. More and more items were locked behind plexiglass, she said, and some shelves were consistently empty. While she’s frustrated with the wait it takes to get a store clerk to unlock the products, she doesn’t judge those stolen from the store out of necessity. “I understand hard times, don’t judge anyone. Do what you have to do to support your family. “

Before moving over the Bay Bridge, Mullins worked in public housing near the Walgreens location on Cesar Chavez Street in the Mission District. There she got the flu vaccinations for her four children and bought basic food for the kitchen at lower prices than her local grocery chain. The site is slated to close on November 17th.

“This Walgreens was essential to at least my family,” said Mullins of the Mission District location. “It’s closer than Safeway, has more items than the corner shop, and has a pharmacy attached. It was a staple, so seeing them shut down in neighborhoods that really need them is heartbreaking. “

Mullens works for the Pretrial Diversion Project in San Francisco, a nonprofit that seeks to get people accused of shoplifting and other petty crimes out of jail. The program helps participants keep track of court appearances and orders, and connects them to employment, addiction and other services that can deter them from bringing a new charge. Mullins oversees the employees and works with the groups that provide services to the nonprofit’s customers.

David Mauroff fears high-profile incidents are masking the decline in property crimes reported in 2020. Photo: Boris Zharkov / The Guardian

The organization’s CEO David Mauroff said there was no denying that people were stealing from drug stores, clothing stores, and cars. Mauroff, like many San Franciscans, has a connection with the Walgreens. “I don’t know how many times we ran here to get cold medicine because our child couldn’t sleep,” he said of the chain’s location in Excelsior.

Mauroff saw people steal shoplifting in his local shop. However, he fears high-profile incidents will mask the city’s 2020 drop in property crime. And while he didn’t see an increase in customers for the organization, he has found that the theft hotspots in San Francisco have changed over time as the pandemic progressed.

“There are fewer tourists and fewer people who drive to work – that’s where break-ins used to take place. But because of Covid, people had to find another destination, and unfortunately that turned into Walgreens and other retail stores.

“We do not allow ourselves to be driven by hysteria”

Crime data is complex and often incomplete, and a full picture of what happened in the city during the pandemic still emerges. San Francisco has long had higher levels of property crime than other California cities, but recent data suggests that while some categories of crime have increased while others have decreased.

Theft, the category that shoplifting falls under, appears to have declined from 2019 to 2020, which is lowering the overall rate of real estate crime, according to the San Francisco Police Department’s crime dashboard. Crimes like rape and robbery also fell in 2020, according to an analysis of the latest FBI data from the San Francisco Chronicle. Murders, car thefts, and break-ins increased according to the same FBI data.

The decline in shoplifting appears to continue in 2021. In 2020, according to the San Francisco District Attorney, 12,266 incidents and about 380 arrests were reported for the crime. By the end of October 2021, around 200 people had been arrested for theft or theft that year and there were 9,221 reports. By the end of September last year there had already been 9,558 reports.

Regardless of any discrepancies between perception, data, and lived experience, people breaking into cars near tourist spots like Fisherman’s Wharf and viral videos like the one documenting a man riding his bike out of a Walgreens forced the officers to join one Reaction.

At the end of September 2021, the mayor, together with the San Francisco Police Chief, presented the organized investigation and deterrence strategy for retail theft. The initiative will expand the city’s retail crime rate from two to five officials. The new hires will coordinate with other law enforcement agencies, including the California Highway Police and off-duty officers hired by companies under the city’s 10B program as private security. The city will also triple the number of unarmed community ambassadors from eight to 25.

Mauroff, the CEO of the Pre-Trial Program, said that while the police have a role to play in deterring and combating shoplifting, they are working to find solutions that are not just police-led, but rather the rehabilitative needs of individuals and racial differences taken into account in the criminal justice system.

He noted that during the pandemic lockdown, therapeutic services such as anger management courses, which had previously been found to be helpful, were only available remotely, which is what they are for most of the diversion program’s customers, especially those in the unsafe Living conditions, making it largely inaccessible.

“We mustn’t let ourselves be driven by hysteria so that we can find solutions,” said Mauroff.

The Excelsior District location was closed on November 11th. Photo: Boris Zharkov / The Guardian

Charles Ryan, a case manager with the Pretrial Diversion Project, argued that big companies like Walgreens also had a role to play.

Ryan lives in a community in San Francisco that has already gone through a Walgreens shutdown held responsible for “rampant” theft. In the summer of 2019, Walgreens closed its store in Bayview Hunters Point, a historically black working-class neighborhood near San Francisco Bay.

Ryan said he saw shoplifting in the store but complained that he saw no management efforts to make the drugstore a respected part of the community – for example, educating their staff on implicit biases and keeping the location clean. Black customers are being followed by employees in the store who believed they had come to steal, he said.

“They didn’t have a manager to get the line on how to deal with people who came in,” Ryan said. “Nobody was there to do the high pressure wash and keep it clean, so people said, ‘We just go in and take what we want. They don’t treat us right and have never done anything for the neighborhood. ‘

“Closing the other locations is bad because they are closing some in neighborhoods where people would have to walk around town to get what they need,” he continued. “They’re only closing it because some people stole.”

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Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. has announced that it will close five Walgreens stores in San Francisco in response to the rise in organized retail crime.

Walgreens says it will bring recipes and workers from the closed stores to nearby locations. Recipes are posted in shops within a mile of the hotel.

“Retail theft at our San Francisco stores has continued to increase five times our chain average in recent months,” the company said in a statement.

“To combat this problem, we have increased our investment in security measures in stores across the city over this period to 46 times our chain average to create a safe environment.”

Target Corp. TGT, +1.50%, cut hours at its five San Francisco locations this summer due to the increase in theft.

See: Target cuts opening hours in San Francisco due to “alarming increase” in shoplifting

Video of a man stealing from one of the San Francisco Walgreens WBA, -3.64% locations and then going out of business on a bike went viral earlier this year.

Rachel Michelin, president and chief executive officer of the California Retailers Association, told MarketWatch this summer that organized retail crime has been an issue in the state for years.

Walgreens says it will close its stores between November 8th and 17th. Patients do not need to take any action to postpone their prescriptions.

Walgreens stock is up 27.4% over the year to date, while the benchmark S&P 500 SPX is up + 0.75% over the period, up 18%.

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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) – Retail chain Walgreens announced Tuesday that it was closing five of its San Francisco stores for retail theft.

Meanwhile, SF overseer Ahsha Safai said he hoped a law he recently proposed can prevent stores from closing more locations.

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According to Walgreens, it will close its following SF locations next month: 2550 Ocean Ave., 4645 Mission St., 745 Clement St., 300 Gough St., and 3400 Cesar Chavez St.

“Because of the ongoing organized retail crime, we made the difficult decision to close five stores across San Francisco,” Walgreens said in a statement Tuesday.

“Organized retail crime remains a challenge for retailers across San Francisco, and we are not immune to it. Retail theft at our San Francisco stores has continued to rise in the past few months, up to five times our chain average. To combat this issue, during that time we have increased our investment in security measures in stores across the city to 46 times our chain average to create a safe environment, “the company said.

Upon hearing the news, Safai said the closings would severely affect children, families and seniors, many of whom get their prescription drugs from Walgreens pharmacies.

“I am completely devastated by this news. This closure will have a significant impact on this community. Less than a mile from seven schools, this Walgreens has been a staple for families and children for decades, ”he said of the Mission Street location. “The city must act urgently to reduce and prevent the number of incidents of commercial retail theft.”

Safai has worked with Walgreens and other retailers to find solutions to rampant and ever brazen retail thefts across the city.

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Two weeks ago, Safai introduced a law that would amend the city’s administrative law to allow sheriff’s deputies to enter into contracts with businesses, private events, and community areas to ensure safety. Under the law, private companies would pay MPs overtime at no cost to the taxpayer.

San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto supports the legislation.

“With the recent surge in property crimes in San Francisco, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office (SFSO) stands ready to do its part to keep our communities safe,” said Miyamoto. “Our office and our members support legislation that allows FSO employees to be present in shops and companies to ensure everyone’s safety and reduce the opportunities to commit crimes. It is important to keep stores in our community to provide access not only to retail stores but also to pharmacies and medical services that host or offer them. “

In addition to the proposed laws, Safai has also set up a commercial retail theft working group that will include Police Chief Bill Scott and District Attorney Chesa Boudin, which will make policy recommendations.

Scott and Mayor London Breed also announced a number of new initiatives to address retail theft last month, including expanding the police’s organized retail crime division and recruiting more retired police officers to patrol the neighborhoods.

Back in July, Governor Gavin Newsom announced an aggressive enforcement plan aimed at a staggering increase in brazen retail thefts by organized gangs.

With the five Walgreens locations closed next month, Walgreens said each store prescriptions will be automatically transferred to another Walgreens location nearby within a mile radius and patients will receive a notification in the mail. In addition, the company announced that it will be relocating employees at the closure locations to other nearby locations.

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