Coco Republic to Leave SF Seven Months After Opening Store

Coco Republic had just spent millions to set up shop in San Francisco’s Union Square when it decided to pull out because of diminishing foot traffic and unsafe streets.

The Australia-based furniture retailer is abandoning its first U.S. appearance seven months after it moved into a 53,000-square-foot flagship store at 55 Stockton Street, SFGate reported.

Coco, which took up the basement through the third floors at the National Center Building in a space previously occupied by Crate & Barrel, is expected to be gone by summer.

The home furnishings chain blamed a lack of customer foot traffic caused in part by the city’s unsafe street conditions.

“[It] has become clear that downtown San Francisco is no longer a viable option for Coco Republic’s flagship store,” a company spokesperson told SFGate in an email. “It was a difficult decision and one that was not taken lightly.

“The recent closings of Whole Foods, Nordstrom, Saks Off 5th and Anthropologie show that ours is not an isolated problem in Union Square, and we hope the city will be able to address the issues that are making it so challenging to do business there.”

Coco Republic, which has 14 stores in Australia and New Zealand, had high hopes for San Francisco.

Its debut in Union Square signaled a U.S. and global expansion. The firm, acquired last fall in a major stake by Los Angeles-based Story3 Capital Partners, has a store in Culver City and a new flagship set to open this month in Costa Mesa, according to SFGate.

Its toehold in San Francisco, which included a multimillion-dollar renovation, was based on a short-term lease in order to test the market, according to the San Francisco Business Times.

Kazuko Morgan of Cushman & Wakefield, which represented both the tenant and landlord Zaber in the National Center Building deal, said Coco Republic didn’t have to wait long before deciding whether to push for a longer stay.

“We all had high hopes for it,” Morgan told the Business Times. “It was certainly a beautiful store.”

Coco Republic attributed the demise of its Union Square store to the deteriorating reputation of San Francisco. Whole Foods Market made national news when it closed its Mid-Market store last month over safety concerns for its employees. This month, Nordstrom opted to close two stores in Downtown after 35 years in the city.

The Coco spokesperson cited a University of Toronto study showing San Francisco has had the worst economic recovery of any major North American city from the pandemic.

While the firm’s Union Square location hasn’t had any serious crime incidents, the spokesperson said that was due to its security services.

The spokesperson said the reputation of the surrounding area — that there are unaddressed safety concerns — has contributed to stalled economic recovery and lack of customer traffic in Downtown.

— Dana Bartholomew