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An upscale apparel chain was preparing to reopen its Hayes Valley location Thursday, just weeks after the company’s founder touched a raw nerve in San Francisco with a
social media missive
lamenting the store’s closure — another victim, he said, of rampant retail theft in the city.
“Following the decision to temporarily shut our San Francisco store due to safety concerns for our retail team, Cotopaxi is pleased to announce that after productive and positive meetings and engagements with Hayes Valley Merchants Association, local council and SFPD, measures have been put in place to allow us to reopen our Hayes Valley storefront once again,” a spokesperson for the company wrote in a statement.
In advance of the reopening, the store had hired “a full-time security company to safeguard the store,” the spokesperson said, and that Cotopaxi had “an agreement with local police to increase supervision in the area.”
The statement went on to describe how Cotopaxi representatives — and specifically, founder and CEO Davis Smith — had launched a “much-needed” dialogue about safety in the neighborhood, after Smith published a
scorching post on LinkedIn
saying his store was beset by repeated thefts, perpetrated by crews who managed to outwit all his security measures.
Laden with dramatic language and harrowing descriptions of these capers, Smith’s post quickly went viral last month, announcing what would apparently be a three-week closure. Though the store is once again open for business, Smith’s complaints about unchecked crime linger on social media, fueling a narrative that has electrified San Francisco politics — and
made the city a caricature on national cable news.
Several Hayes Valley merchants say Smith’s post underscored a problem that has gripped their neighborhood since the pandemic lockdowns of 2020, when cars began circling the blocks, letting out a group of passengers at once to swarm a store.
At a town hall meeting held in a Hayes Valley eyeware boutique,
a week after Smiths’ post went viral, shop owners proposed a variety of solutions to a panel of city leaders that included district Supervisor Dean Preston and San Francisco Police Captain Derrick Jackson.
Some asked for officers’ cell phone numbers, ostensibly to bypass the city’s 911 system when they need to report an incident at their stores. One bistro chef said he carries a Taser during work hours.
Data on larceny and thefts in the Hayes Valley area is inconclusive. Records culled from the San Francisco Police Department show that the number of reports of such incidents jumped from 13 in February 2021 to 23 the next month, and 30 in April, before dropping to 21 in May. Some merchants at the town hall speculated that only a fraction of these crimes get reported, and that the true number is far greater.
Preston said in a recent interview that while his office hasn’t seen consistent crime trends, it’s possible that certain businesses are preyed upon — particularly those that sell clothing or other goods that are valuable and easily fenced. He pushed back on a notion shared among some business owners, that string of break-ins in Hayes Valley might represent a citywide trend.
Ye t on Thursday, the Cotopaxi spokesperson struck an optimistic tone, saying employees “look forward to welcoming local San Franciscans and visitors to the area in a safe, enjoyable and do-good environment.”
Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan
