Does a New Nintendo Store in SF’s Union Square Signal a Retail Rebound?

So long, Bloomingdale’s, hello Mario Kart.

San Francisco’s new Nintendo store is slated to open May 15 in the heart of the city’s beleaguered Union Square shopping district, the Japanese gaming giant announced last week. It’s welcome news for what was once considered the city’s premier shopping destination, which has struggled to recover after being hit particularly hard during the pandemic.

The new store — the company’s second official retail venture in the country, after its New York location — will occupy a sprawling, 11,000 square-foot storefront on the corner of Powell and Geary streets. The space facing Union Square has been vacant for so long that you’d be forgiven for not remembering its last tenant — BCBG Max Azria, a high-end women’s clothing brand, jumped ship in 2017.

Along with a host of consoles and games, the store “will offer a unique shopping experience filled with Nintendo’s characters, worlds and exclusive products including accessories, apparel, home goods and souvenirs available only at this location,” the company said in a news release on Thursday. The store’s opening date comes nearly a year after it first announced its intention to set up shop in the neighborhood.

Over the last five years, scores of major retailers have fled the area — The Gap, Nordstrom, Uniqlo, H&M and Walgreens, to name a few — leaving behind a bleak row of shuttered storefronts and for-lease signs that help fuel speculation of the city’s “retail doom loop.” In the third quarter of 2024, roughly 22% of the district’s businesses were vacant, according to a report by the real-estate company Cushman & Wakefield.

“I’m thrilled,” Supervisor Danny Sauter, who represents the district, said of the Nintendo store. “I think this is what we’re all looking for: more reasons to go to Union Square. It really fits with the type of retail that seems to be doing well these days, which is a kind of a space not only to shop but to have an experience.”

Sauter, who took office less than three months ago, said he’s confident the neighborhood is “on the upswing,” encouraged by local realtors who have said they’re getting more interest in their properties.

“The narrative on San Francisco is starting to shift,” he added. “People are willing to take a chance on San Francisco again, and it’s remarkable how that was not the case six months ago.”

In another much-needed win for the neighborhood, Ross Dress for Less renewed the lease for its flagship store on Market Street late last year and announced plans to open a new store one block away. Meanwhile, six other businesses set up shop in the neighborhood last year, with another seven announcing plans to open stores in 2025, according to the Union Square Alliance.

But the supervisor acknowledged there’s still a very long way to go, noting that the district’s facade began showing cracks several years before the pandemic hit amid broader changes in retail and online shopping.

That’s immediately evident in just the three-block stretch of Powell Street, between Market and Geary streets, leading up to Nintendo’s new store. At least 15 storefronts — many of them vast spaces — currently sit empty.

In the latest major blow to the district, Bloomingdale’s in January announced plans to shutter its massive department store in the already half-empty San Francisco Centre mall on Market Street. The store is set to close on April 13. The news comes less than a year after Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s parent company, announced the imminent closure of its flagship Union Square store, likely next year.

“I mean, there’s far too many [vacancies],” Sauter said. “There’s clearly a lot of work to be done. So, let’s celebrate this. But we’ve got to have many more of these wins for Union Square to really be back to where it was 10 years ago.”

Sauter said it’s now the city’s responsibility to create a healthy business environment that will help keep Nintendo and other businesses rooted in the neighborhood.

“To make sure that the surrounding blocks are clean and safe and inviting so that everyone can just focus on a good experience at Nintendo,” he said.

By Monday, several signs with images of Mario, Zelda and other iconic Nintendo characters had already been affixed to the Powell Street storefront. As spurts of intermittent rain pelted the street, a Union Square Alliance ambassador scrubbed poop from the sidewalk directly in front of the store’s main doors, warning passersby to avoid stepping in it.

“Wow, they actually do clean the shit off the sidewalk,” one man remarked as he hurried by.

Iggy DeGuzman, who was attending the Game Developers Conference at the Moscone Center, snapped a photo of the new signs.

He said he’s looking forward to the store opening soon, even though he doesn’t play Nintendo games as fervently as he once did.

“I feel like it’s going to attract a lot more people,” said DeGuzman, 31, who grew up in San Francisco and now lives several blocks from the store. “It’s one store at a time. I don’t know how San Francisco’s going to revive Union Square, but it’s baby steps.”