ETHAN HUFF

Retail stores are fleeing San Francisco in droves as the California city collapses under the weight of rampant crime and theft. And rather than deal with the crime problem, city leaders instead want to punish the stores trying to leave.

The so-called "Grocery Protection Act," introduced by city Board of Supervisors member Dean Preston (Democratic Socialist), says stores that try to leave San Francisco would have to provide the city with six months' notice, allowing city leaders time to look for a replacement retail tenant.

This bill was introduced not long after Whole Foods Market closed down its flagship San Francisco store after just a year of being there. Crime was so rampant at Whole Foods that the store was losing more than it was selling, prompting it to vacate the premises.

Not only that, but workers at the now-closed Whole Foods location were routinely threatened with weapons as vagrants flooded the store. Homeless people would throw food at staff and provoke fights, with some even defecating on the floor, creating a health hazard.

In one particularly nasty incident, a homeless man with a knife sprayed an employee with a fire extinguisher. There were also routine incidents of people overdosing on drugs in the store's washrooms, with one man actually dying there after taking too much fentanyl and methamphetamine.

An astounding 570 emergency calls were logged at the now-defunct location, all of these occurring in just a single calendar year. One of the calls involved an employee reporting that a "male [with] machete is back," and another in which "another security guard was just assaulted."

(Related: Despite its reputation as being one of the "greenest" cities in the world, San Francisco dumps massive amounts of raw sewage into its bay.)

Forcing businesses to stay

Rather than show sympathy towards the store and its employees while offering solutions, San Francisco city leaders instead complained that Whole Foods was leaving.

"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," said Matt Dorsey, a former San Francisco Board of Supervisors member who added that he is "incredibly disappointed" at the store's closing.

Preston was even more upset about Whole Foods shutting down. He stated that Whole Foods should have had to give half a year's worth of notice before being allowed to flee.

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