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Iconic San Francisco Toy Store That Inspired 'Toy Story' Shutting Down Thanks to New California Law

Guy Benson
Guy Benson  |  January 30, 2024 2:01 PM

A new law in California requires large retailers to offer "gender neutral" toy aisles, because apparently that's what passes for a pressing 'progressive' priority within Sacramento's corridors of power.  Elsewhere in the state, the wages of 'progressive' policies have shut down an entire toy store -- and an iconic one, at that.  The Bay Area's undeniable and alarming death spiral of urban decay has been thoroughly documented in recent years, including consistent coverage in this space.  

The latest business to pull up stakes and walk away is a beloved purveyor of toys that inspired an iconic movie franchise:

San Francisco’s oldest toy store, which inspired the Pixar classic “Toy Story,” is permanently shutting its doors after nearly a century in business with the city’s widespread crime and violence problem playing a significant factor. Jeffrey’s Toys broke the news Friday it will be closing up shop at the end of February, marking the end of an iconic 86-year run. “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,” attorney Ken Sterling told the San Francisco Chronicle. “The family is saddened it has come to this and we’ve explored all other options to try and keep the business going,” Sterling explained...Signs of trouble first arose when the business saw a decline during the pandemic. The family paid close to $20,000 each month in rent, and the cost of keeping the shop running became unattainable...

San Francisco’s rampant violent crimes also impacted the store’s staff. Luhn told the San Francisco Chronicle that one of his former employees was pushed up against the shop’s wall and nearly stabbed. Sterling blamed “the leadership of the City of San Francisco and the Downtown Association” for letting crime run wild in the “once vibrant and fun downtown experience.” Luhn, who manages the toy store with his dad and stepmother, said they were “putting our money in, we’re putting our hard work in, and we’re putting our love into it,” but the local business was not getting any help from the city in return. Robberies across San Francisco shot up a staggering 14.4 % percent in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to the latest crime statistics.

Perhaps a certain left-wing local columnist and "cultural critic" will blame the owners of this store for not just grinning and bearing the crime.  That's what businesses are obligated to do, in her view, in order to demonstrate their commitment to the "well-being of communities:"

This economically-illiterate spasm perversely transfers culpability for these failures away from the actual perpetrators of crime and their political enablers, and onto the victims.  And while the company would be well within its rights to walk away from an unprofitable location, this closure is not about profit.  It's purely about the scourge of dangerous, unchecked crime:  

Ms. Ho's is the sort of thinking that helps explain why the Bay Area is in the trouble that it's in.  The specific case she mentions in her tweet refers to an In-N-Out burger location in Oakland, California that is being forced to close down by uncontrolled crime:

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In-N-Out announced last week it would be closing its Oakland location in March, due to rampant violent crime and theft...The company told FOX Business that regular car break-ins, property damage, theft and armed robberies of customers and employees led to the decision to shut down.  "We feel the frequency and severity of the crimes being encountered by our Customers and Associates leave us no alternative," Denny Warnick, the chief operating officer at In-N-Out, said in a statement...Alameda County Republican Party Treasurer Utkarsh Jain told FOX Business that the closure was a sign the city and the state more broadly needed to move beyond Democratic leadership. Oakland, which is the county seat of Alameda, is one of the bluest cities in the country...Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price has faced local recall efforts since she took office last year...Price ran for the office on a progressive platform that includes such measures and efforts as not trying juveniles as adults, seeking lower sentences and probation for more crimes, and doing away with special-circumstance sentencing enhancements.

You may recall the name Pamela Price from this madness we covered last spring. Also, as it turns out, In-N-Out selects its store locations very carefully, and has an extraordinary track record of serving those communities -- with literally one exception:

Hundreds of locations across the western United States, and exactly one abandonment of a location -- ever -- despite its continued profitability.  Take a bow, Oakland.  And congratulations on your "progress."