Store That Inspired ‘Toy Story’ Closing Amid San Francisco ‘Violence’

A historic toy store that helped inspire Pixar’s Toy Story franchise in San Francisco is to close after 75 years because of “perils and violence.”

Jeffrey’s Toys is due to shut in a matter of weeks, citing local crime, inflation and the “demise of retail across the world.”

San Francisco, with its proximity to Silicon Valley, became one of the country’s main tech hubs in the past decades, as giants like Google, Apple, Facebook and Twitter set up their headquarters there. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, many San Francisco tech workers moved further out to cheaper cities, while other people decided against relocating there.

“After 75 years of gratefully serving the San Francisco community, the store will be closing next month,” Ken Sterling, the attorney for Jeffrey’s Toys, said, per the San Francisco Chronicle. He added that he had told the store’s staff not to speak to the press.

“The store has been struggling for a number of years, due to the perils and violence of the downtown environment, inflation, the decrease in consumer spending and the demise of retail across the world. The family is saddened it has come to this and we’ve explored all other options to try and keep the business going,” Sterling added.

“The leadership of the City of San Francisco and the Downtown Association have their work cut out for them on how to revitalize what was once a vibrant and fun downtown experience,” the lawyer said.

Newsweek has approached Sterling and Jeffrey’s Toys via email for comment.

San Francisco Crime

Despite the store’s problems being attributed to crime, some recent statistics regarding the Californian city have made for more positive reading.

In 2023, San Francisco’s crime was lower than any period in the last 10 years, except for 2020. A statement issued by the city on January 23 this year said property crime had decreased by 34 percent compared to 2022.

Key to the improvement was a 35 percent decrease in shoplifting, the most of any in 24 large American cities, according to data collected by the Council on Criminal Justice.

There was a significant spike in 2021 and 2022, however, and the data used by the city government also failed to mention specific areas of San Francisco.

Local perceptions of crime are also generally negative. A city survey released in April 2023 said that “a larger proportion of respondents cited public safety as their top issue,” compared to 2019. The exact rise is not clear, but appears to have nearly doubled from 20 percent four years ago.

The city’s own grading process put public perceptions of safety at a C+. This is the lowest rating by San Francisco’s own standards since 1996.

Nationally, Gallup poll released in August 2023 said views of safety has dropped precipitously since 2006. Around 52 percent of Americans rated San Francisco as safe, while 46 percent said it was unsafe. In 2006, 70 percent of Americans had viewed the city as safe, according to Gallup data.

Other Factors

The pandemic has had a major impact on downtown San Francisco stores, with half of them closing since 2019. This was according to a report by the San Francisco Standard in May 2023.

Jeffrey’s Toys has also experienced a long-term downturn in business. It used to attract major celebrities in San Francisco, but gradually reduced its sites over the years until it was left with only the solitary store on Kearny Street, close to Union Square.

The problems the store experienced were felt over the holidays. Co-owner Matthew Luhn said fewer people had been using toy stores over key periods such as the Christmas holidays, partly because of crime fears.

“I hope things will change, but I know that we just can’t keep covering the loss every month without help from the city,” Luhn told NBC Bay Area in December.

Luhn was one of the animators who worked on the Toy Story films and eventually took over the store from his father.

Luhn added to ABC7: “We all know, the pandemic has been hard on people, the uptick in crime. I look around me right now and see so many buildings that are closed and shuttered. Why are we here?”