What are the most popular stores in downtown San Francisco?
Although it’s not the Supreme store on Market Street, sneakerheads occasionally flock to it in search of new shoes. This isn’t Louis Vuitton or Yves Saint Laurent or any of the other flashy luxury stores in Union Square.
Ross Dress for Less. It’s like, “Do you love me?” I love you! Because, like the marked-down mom jeans and basic her blue branding that makes it look as if she was born in the 1950’s Sun She Bruno, she really is.
Along Market Street in the Financial District, Ross Dress for Less shoppers line up on the corner of Fourth Street on any weekday to vie for admission to the chain’s four-story local flagship store. Ross, at 799 Market St., is operating like a gangbuster, bucking the destructive tide rocking the downtown retail industry, where about half of the area’s stores have closed since 2019.
I recently visited on a Tuesday afternoon, which local enthusiasts know to be the best day to shop in Los Angeles, and found checkout lines long, wait times reaching 20 minutes, and customers waiting inside. It was seen snaking around the second floor of the building. The constant beeping of the anti-theft devices on my shoes echoed across the aisle. The crowd was diverse in race, gender, and age, and included local families with young children and tourists who seemed curious to know what all the fuss was about.