SF Market Closing After 35 Years, Owner Cites Homelessness as a Factor

When a brand new Whole Foods store in San Francisco closed last year we eventually learned why. The safety of the store’s workers and the financial situation of the store itself were being impacted by the homeless.

People threatened employees with guns, knives and sticks. They flung food, screamed, fought and tried to defecate on the floor, according to records of 568 emergency calls over 13 months, many depicting scenes of mayhem.

“Male w/machete is back,” the report on one 911 call states. “Another security guard was just assaulted,” another says. A man with a four-inch knife attacked several security guards, then sprayed store employees with foam from a fire extinguisher, according to a third…

Police described theft as rampant at Whole Foods, with thieves walking out with armfuls of alcohol, at least at the start. After 250 shopping hand baskets were stolen, the company restocked with 50 more. Those went missing, too.

Over the weekend, a market which has been in business for 35 years announced it was closing one of its two locations for the same reason. Owner David Pesusic cited rampant theft by homeless people as a major factor.

In addition to inflation-fueled bills and declining foot traffic, the small grocery and deli has suffered from “rampant” crime, including near-daily shoplifting and three break-ins in the past couple years, Pesusic said. He blamed city officials for the increased crime, slamming law enforcement and city leaders for being unresponsive and overly permissive.

“Our family business is going down the tubes because the idiots in City Hall can’t protect us,” Pesusic told the Chronicle.

Statistically, crime is down in the city compared to last year, but Pesusic says the numbers don’t tell the whole story. His store doesn’t even call police half the time because they know no one will show up anyway, at least not for many hours.

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