Temporary Gump’s to stay open for 2 years
Gump’s is turning its temporary holiday store into a semipermanent home on Post Street, a block from where the famed San Francisco retailer shut its doors amid bankruptcy in late 2018.
“San Francisco still has a great many challenges, and we do feel the condition of the city diminished our company’s sales at Christmas,” said John Chachas of New York, whose family purchased the Gump’s business after the bankruptcy filing. “But our reception by devoted Bay Area residents convinced us to keep trying.”
Since 1861, Gump’s has been a destination for San Franciscans seeking unique and beautiful gifts, including jewelry, finely crafted ornaments, apparel and furniture.
The Chachas family set up the 2,000squarefoot temporary shop in Union Square over the
holidays and said sales would determine whether that stay would be extended. Revenue was not “mind blowing,” Chachas said, but San Francisco had something other cities didn’t — longstanding and loyal customers and employees who are deeply familiar with the store’s products.
Still, Gump’s is hardly immune to the factors that are hurting other San Francisco retailers, including online shopping and high rents. Chachas said his staff — he hired employees from the old Gump’s — took products to customers instead of waiting for people to walk into the store.
“We took fine jewelry to a handful of customers outside the city,” he said. “This is the reality of retail, and San Francisco is no picnic.”
Chachas said he has signed a lease for two years, to the end of 2021, after which he has options to renew. He declined to give holidays sales figures and or say how much he is paying for rent.
Chachas did say that he is considering a second Gump’s location.
“It could be in the Bay Area, maybe in Palo Alto,” he said. “Or Florida or Texas, but I can assure it won’t be in San Francisco.”