RSS
Home
Panic on Union Street
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
An empty storefront on Union Street
This recession is starting to get a little scary...
At first it had something of an appeal. Retailers big and small were offering deep, deep discounts on everything from linens to electronics. You could actually afford to buy that 30" flat screen you've been coveting for the past few months. Then you had an opportunity to take advantage of that big bankruptcy liquidation at the mall. So maybe that Shabby Chic duvet cover was available only in queen instead of full but when would you have a chance to buy it at 80% off? The silver lining was everywhere you looked.
Today, the rush of bargain basement prices has given way to an empty glut where you can actually see the casualties of a harsh economy peppered throughout the city streets.
A sunny walk down Union Street in Cow Hollow for example is now a nervous reminder of just how harsh things are starting to get. I counted at least fourteen storefronts vacant with for lease signs plastered on their windows. What was once a hip, vibrant and chatty neighborhood now looks like something of a graveyard. Even a space where you would find neighborhod bar hoppers ordering chicken wings and cheering on a Pac 10 Football game is now a quiet and cavernous void with a crumbling facade. Could Union Street be getting depressing?
For the moment at least all does not seem to be lost. One empty storefront had a "leased" sign tempting consumers back into confidence. The intersections are still pretty busy with shoppers and Perry's had a nice share of Sunday brunchers holding dogs on leashes...just not with all that crowded panache. Perhaps the silver lining of this new phase of our recession is that today, on Union Street, you don't have to wait a really long time to find a parking space or get a table outside to eat.
Hopefully this is going to be as bad as it gets. But with rumors of more job losses and stimulus packages just paying the bills rather than planting new seeds, it may be the beginning of some murky days ahead.
We'll see where it goes. San Francisco has a way of rising out of a pile of lemons and making lemon drops.
Related Articles:
Comments
