Goal is just not shutting down its location in San Francisco’s Metreon, regardless of a viral story that wrongly claimed that it could shut down as a consequence of retail theft.
A spokesperson for Goal advised SFGATE Friday that the department situated within the downtown buying heart is not going to be closing down, regardless of a report from the California Globe, a self-proclaimed “unbiased” publication. The story was extensively circulated on Twitter, Fb and Reddit as proof of unfettered theft turning into an epidemic in San Francisco, and shared by outstanding Fox Information contributor Leo Terrell and a number of different conservatives.
“The Metreon retailer is just not closing,” the spokesperson advised SFGATE.
Primarily based on alleged, nameless interviews with San Francisco law enforcement officials, the California Globe story said that this Goal location was shutting down as a consequence of a shoplifting “epidemic.” The Globe didn’t seem to cite Goal on this story.
Retail theft has, certainly, confirmed to be a critical concern in San Francisco, and Goal has had its hours affected as a consequence of an uptick in theft.
The problem has reached nationwide headlines, following a viral video shared by KGO reporter Lyanne Melendez and the current closures of a number of Walgreens places within the metropolis, as a consequence of what the corporate says is mass shoplifting. Nevertheless, follow-ups from SFGATE, the San Francisco Chronicle and different shops have discovered that retail theft might not be the only concern for these shops shutting down. (SFGATE and the Chronicle are each owned by Hearst however function independently of each other.)
The Globe story was additionally largely important of District Lawyer Chesa Boudin and Mayor London Breed, with the story claiming that the mayor “begged” the corporate to not shut this location down. (Breed’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from SFGATE.)
The article was written by Ken Kurson, the proprietor of a holding firm that publishes the California Globe and the previous editor-in-chief of the Observer in New York, appointed in 2013 by then-publisher Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband and an official in former President Donald Trump’s administration.
Kurson was charged by the Division of Justice within the Jap District of New York in 2020 for the cyberstalking and harassment of three people; he was pardoned by Trump earlier this 12 months.
One other Goal location, the spokesperson advised SFGATE, is closing down — on 225 Bush St. — however not as a consequence of theft. The shop is closing “as a consequence of years of underperforming gross sales,” they stated, and all workers at this location could have the choice to switch to a special location.
