One of the largest supermarkets in Downtown San Francisco, which closed down last month after being open for just 13 months saw its staff subjected to widespread drug use by vagrants, huge amounts of theft and aggressive behavior towards staff members resulting in 568 emergency calls over the period.
It meant there was just over one phone call a day for antisocial behavior with phone records detailing an array of chaotic and dangerous incidents.
The closure of the store has specifically been attributed to the significant rise in crime in the area and subsequent safety concerns.
The reports show how workers at the store were routinely threatened with weapons, while vagrants would throw food at staff, engage in fights, and even defecate on the floor.
One incident saw a homeless man with a knife spray an employee with a fire extinguisher.
Workers at a Whole Foods Market in San Francisco were frequently threatened with weapons before the store announced its closure. The closed store is pictured last month
The store was only open for 13 months during which time there were 568 emergency calls for everything from homeless people throwing food, fighting, and defecating on the floor
Security guards were assaulted with knives and fire extinguishers – and there were cases of drug overdoses and thefts including alcohol were stolen
There were also cases of drug overdoses with one man dying in the bathroom after overdosing on fentanyl and methamphetamine. Thefts were also common with large quantities of alcohol stolen from the store.
‘Male [with] machete is back,’ one call detailed. ‘Another security guard was just assaulted,’ stated another 911 call.
In total it led to the arrest of at least 14 people with some charged with serious offenses including grand theft and battery.
More than 250 baskets were stolen before the store before the supermarket added anther 50 – only to have those go missing as well.
The organic food giant initially opened the new ‘flagship’ location at Trinity Place in the city’s Tenderloin district in March 2022, hoping to revitalize footfall after two years of draconian COVID restrictions severely impacted businesses in the area.
But following non-stop incidents of anti-social behavior the store initially cut its opening hours in attempt to reduce the amount of theft occurring.
Bathroom policies had to be changed after drug paraphernalia, including syringes and pipes were found.
A Whole Foods spokesperson declared the store closed down last month due to safety concerns for its staff amid rampant drug use, theft and aggressive behavior in the area (homeless people consume drugs in street encampments in downtown SF)
A City Hall source told The San Francisco Standard that Whole Foods cited deteriorating street conditions around drug use, violent behavior towards staff and crime as the main factors behind the closure
But the measures seemed to make little difference. With drug use and levels of crime showing no sign of abating the company decided to close the store for good.
A City Hall source told The San Francisco Standard the company cited deteriorating street conditions around drug use and crime near the store as the driving factors behind the closure.
A spokesperson for Whole Foods has said that the decision on whether to reopen the store will be reevaluated but only if the safety of staff can be guaranteed.
‘We are closing our Trinity location only for the time being. If we feel we can ensure the safety of our team members in the store, we will evaluate a reopening of our Trinity location,’ a Whole Foods spokesperson said in a statement earlier this month.
The San Francisco Police Department has been struggling with staffing shortages since 2017, with staffing levels falling well short of the 2,100 officers required to police the city, at just 1,500.
‘Zombie-like’ drug addicts are pictured using and strung-out on drugs in Downtown San Francisco, last month
The Whole Foods in Mid Market Street is seen after it was closed due to employee safety concerns after being open for only a year in San Francisco, California
The Trinity Place Whole Foods store suffered problems from the moment it opened its doors in March 2022, with managers in October reducing operating hours due to the ‘high theft’ and ‘hostile visitors’.
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One month later, the store announced customers would only be able to access the toilets with a valid QR code after syringes and pipes were found littering the bathroom floor.
Meanwhile, San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey claimed a Whole Foods employee had told him there were no longer any baskets available for shoppers because all 250 had been stolen.
Dorsey told the San Francisco Chronicle that people were ‘acting out’ in the store and Whole Foods could no longer guarantee the safety of its employees.
‘It’s obvious to me that, as an employer, Whole Foods has a lot of concerns about the safety of their employees, and ultimately that’s why they made the decision to close,’ Dorsey said.
‘I wish they hadn’t, but I’ve also been in there and seen some things that are off-putting.’
The Democrat later announced that he would introduce a ballot measure next year to fully staff the city’s police department within five years.
His plan calls for a minimum staffing level of 2,182 officers —a number previously recommended in an analysis the city uses to decide how many officers it should hire.
For his plan to be put on the ballots next year, Dorsey would need to get a majority of the 11-member board. If that fails, supporters could launch a signature-gathering campaign.
Violent crimes across San Francisco have risen 7.5 per cent over the past three years
Democratic lawmaker Matt Dorsey announced he is introducing legislation to fully restore the police force within five years
‘Our neighborhood waited a long time for this supermarket, but we’re also well aware of problems they’ve experienced with drug-related retail theft, adjacent drug markets, and the many safety issues related to them,’ he wrote of the Whole Foods’ closure.
He added: ‘Whole Foods’ closure — together with many other safety-related challenges we’ve seen recently — is Exhibit A as to why San Francisco can no longer afford NOT to solve our police understaffing crisis.
‘San Franciscans — or at least the ones I represent in District 6 — are demanding solutions, and they have a right to expect that from those of us in City Hall. I hope my colleagues will support this effort. We owe our residents nothing less.’
Violent crimes across San Francisco have risen 7.5 per cent over the past three years, with property crime surging 20.7 per cent over the same period.
So far in 2023 there have been 1,687 incidents of larceny theft, 286 burglaries and 190 assault cases in the Tenderloin and neighboring Southern district of San Francisco alone, according to SFPD data as of April 9.
San Francisco has seen an exodus of residents as a result of the crime rates – the county experienced the second-largest population decline of any region in California between April 2020 and July 2022 at 7.1 per cent.
At the same time, a report by San Francisco officials in August estimated that up to 20,000 people in the city would experience homelessness at some point in 2022.
Drug addicts are pictured stumbling through the streets of San Francisco last month
San Francisco Police Officers Association’s vice president, Lt. Tracy McCray, said the police force is understaffed and the entire neighborhood is now at a tipping point.
‘We are short staffed so just our presence in patrolling is severely lacking right now. To see a certain uptick in crime is to be expected but I think we are now at a precipice where we could go one way or the other,’ McCray said.
Locals told DailyMail.com they blamed the increasing violence on the ‘soft-on-crime’ progressive policies brought in by the likes of former District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who was tossed from office in a recall election last year.
‘It’s too liberal. Too much. And we’re paying for it,’ said one.
‘Repeat offenders are back out on the streets in a heartbeat and there’s nothing we can do about it. We’re scared.’
San Francisco Police Lieutenant Tracy McCray, currently the President of the San Francisco Police Officers Association
