The retail exodus in San Francisco is not only failing to ease, but it seems to be accelerating. We already saw Walgreens and other pharmacies packing up to leave. Recently, Nordstroms joined the parade heading for the door. Now you can add Old Navy to the list. The local CBS News outlet was tipped off by a worker at the company’s main San Fran outlet about the imminent departure and the reason for it. The story is a familiar one at this point. Old Navy is being looted so often that it is neither safe nor profitable to keep the place open and the company soon won’t be able to afford insurance for the business anyway. So Old Navy and all of the jobs it provides will be exiting stage left.

Repeating an all too familiar story in downtown San Francisco, another major retailer has become the victim of rampant shoplifting.

In an exclusive interview, an Old Navy worker, who does not want to be identified, described the scope of the problem.

“They’re (shoplifters) there every day. When I’m on the floor walking around I would say at least 12, 14 during the day,” the worker said. “It’s really bad because it’s downtown San Francisco and it’s really out of control.”

The store is set to close on July 1. Last weekend, Old Navy was hit by looters 22 times in two days. It’s getting to the point where you almost need an appointment to shoplift there because the crowds of thieves are too thick.

Old Navy’s parent company is Gap. When CBS asked them for a comment, they replied with a lengthy explanation that totally failed to mention the crime problem. It spoke of “always evaluating its real estate portfolio” and claimed that “the way we leverage flagship stores has changed.” Apparently, you’re not supposed to mention the crime wave in public.

According to the anonymous employee, Old Navy has suffered the same problems as other outlets in terms of actual paying customers. Foot traffic and tourism are both down considerably. Potential shoppers fear for their safety when going out on the streets in the downtown region. The sidewalks are littered with drug addicts and the homeless and it’s not safe to park a car on the street and leave it for more than a few minutes.

This means that even the law-abiding consumers who might be inclined to shop there are largely staying away. Profits for these retail outlets were already dropping and now they have people bringing mesh bags with them to steal thousands of dollars worth of merchandise at a time. This is not a sustainable business model.

The real tragedy in all of this is that it was all completely preventable. This plague of crime and danger didn’t come about through some random happenstance, the phase of the moon, or a new virus spreading through the population. This is happening as a direct result of the policies that were put in place by the ultra-liberal “reformers” that San Franciscans and Californians, in general, continue to elect over and over again. So the people of San Francisco are basically getting what they asked for.

Laura Ingraham of Fox News has been doing some really great reporting recently out on the streets of San Francisco. She’s been speaking to the homeless, the drug addicts, the store owners, and affected citizens. I recommend these reports highly. Here’s one of them, and it shows precisely why Old Navy and the rest of the retailers are leaving.