Whole Foods closes flagship San Francisco store due to employee safety concerns

Whole Foods is temporarily closing a large store in downtown San Francisco due to concerns over employee safety, according to reporting from ABC News.

According to San Francisco crime data, crime in San Francisco is down nearly 10% this year over last year, but homicides are up 20% and robberies are up more than 13%. 

The 65,000-square-foot Whole Foods store opened last year at Trinity Place in the city’s Mid Market neighborhood — a company press release announcing the store’s opening in 2022 referred to the location as a “flagship store.”

Whole Foods said it opted to close the location to “ensure worker safety,” according to reporting from ABC. Whole Foods additionally said that all of the employees would be transferred to nearby locations.

“We have made the difficult decision to close the Trinity store for the time being,” the company said in a statement.

Whole Foods, which has Amazon as a parent company, said it would assess a reopening of the location if it feels it can get back to a place of protecting employees, ABC reported.