In San Francisco in recent months nearly half of the stores in the city’s downtown shopping district have closed. In June, the 70-store downtown Westfield Mall said it would stop making payments on a $558 million loan, relinquishing ownership of the shopping center and leaving the fate of the complex uncertain. The trend has spurred criticism focused on crime and homelessness but a more complicated set of forces is driving companies away from the city. A diminished sense of safety among some shoppers has deterred foot traffic downtown, they said. Additionally, they pointed to sluggish sales at some stores due in part to a longstanding shift away from brick-and-mortar retail that went into overdrive during the pandemic. San Francisco has become a ghost town.