San Francisco’s oldest toy store, which inspired the Pixar classic “Toy Story,” is closing permanently after nearly a century in business with the city’s rampant crime and violence problems playing a major factor.
Jeffrey’s Toys announced Friday that it will close up shop at the end of February, marking the end of an iconic 86-year run.
“The store has been struggling for several years, due to the dangers and violence of the downtown environment, inflation, the decline in consumer spending and the destruction of retail worldwide,” attorney Ken Sterling told the San Francisco Chronicle.
“The family is devastated that it has come to this and we have explored all other options to try and continue the business,” explained Sterling.
Jeffrey’s Toys used to have several locations throughout the Bay Area but has shrunk to one final location in San Francisco’s Financial District. Instagram/ jeffreys.toys The original founders of the toy store were Morton and Birdie Luhn. JEFFREY’S TOYS
Founded in 1938 by the Luhn family, Jeffrey’s Toys once had several locations throughout the Bay Area but has dwindled to one final location in San Francisco’s Financial District.
Its founders, Morton and Birdie Luhn, had opened a five-and-dime variety store called “Birdies Variety,” but the couple rebranded the store as “Birdie’s Toy House” — exclusively selling post-World War II toys, according to the store’s website. .
The store was eventually transferred to their grandson Mark Luhn, whose son and current co-owner Matthew Luhn had worked for Pixar as a story artist and writer in the mid-1990s.
Mark Luhn’s son (C) and current co-owner Matthew Luhn (L) worked for Pixar as an artist and story writer in the mid-1990s and used the store as his inspiration for “Toy Story”. JEFFREY’S TOYS
“During ‘Toy Story,’ we would have my dad come over to give us ideas,” Matthew Luhn told SFGate on Dec. 2023. “And when we do references for almost all the ‘Toy Story’ movies, we always go to Jeffrey’s Toys . My dad just closed the store and said, ‘Just play, have fun and let me know if you need anything.'”
Signs of trouble first appeared when businesses suffered a downturn during the pandemic.
The family paid nearly $20,000 monthly in rent, and the cost of maintaining the store became unaffordable.
Jeffrey’s Toys announced Friday that it will close up shop at the end of February, marking the end of an iconic 86-year run. Instagram/ jeffreys.toys
Violent crime rampant in San Francisco also affects store staff.
Luhn told the San Francisco Chronicle that one of his former employees was pushed against the wall of the store and nearly stabbed.
Sterling blamed the “leadership of the City of San Francisco and the Downtown Association” for allowing crime to run wild in a “lively and fun downtown experience.”
Luhn, who runs the toy store with his father and stepmother, said they “put our money in, we put our hard work in, and we put our love into it,” but the local business got nothing. help from the city in return.
A view of one of the many Jeffrey’s Toys locations in the Bay Area. JEFFREY’S TOYS
Robberies across San Francisco jumped 14.4% percent in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to the latest crime statistics.
San Francisco is ranked safer than only one percent of US neighborhoods, and it has a robbery rate more than 4.5 times higher than the national average, according to Neighborhood Scout.
Jeffrey’s Toys is just the latest in a long list of retailers to close due to the crime epidemic gripping the city.
Homeless people gather next to their tents on a street in downtown San Francisco on Dec. 1. 2023. Michael Ho Wai Lee/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak in the spring of 2020, approximately 40 grocery stores have closed in the downtown area.
In October 2023, Starbucks announced that it would be closing several downtown locations in crime-plagued San Francisco.
Popular retailers such as Whole Foods, Old Navy, Saks Off 5th, Office Depot, Athleta, Abercrombie & Fitch, Disney, Marshall’s, H&M and Gap are just a few that will be closing as crime and homeless displacement have disappeared from the city. for years.
The city’s largest mall, Westfield San Francisco Center, has lost nearly $1 billion in its estimated value after its owners, Westfield and Brookfield, stopped making mortgage payments on $558 million last year, according to the Real Deal.
The mall has seen a major move of major retailers since last year, but its biggest blow came when Nordstrom moved out of a 312,000-square-foot high-rise in August due to fentanyl “zombies” roaming outside among drug dealers and thieves after that. 35 years old.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
