Word on the street is that Little Paris - a staple restaurant in San Francisco’s Chinatown for decades - is planning to close up shop. Among the cited reasons are low customer traffic that never recovered to pre-pandemic levels, and the landlord raising the rent. Jokes on the landlord: he (I’m going to presume it’s a he) went from hopeful increase in rental income, to now having zero income. Congratulations, you played yourself.
According to the linked article, the landlord refused to negotiate. In this economy? Honestly, are folks chomping at the bits to open a restaurant in Chinatown? The problems that are causing Little Paris to close down are not going away for potential new tenants. The landlord would rather risk vacancy than coming to a suitable agreement with the proprietor of Little Paris. I know inflation is wild these days, but I highly doubt the landlord was losing money at the old rental rate. As far as I know, property taxes in California have not gone up.
It is greed. Pure greed. Anyone raising prices for the sake of it alone is shortsighted at best, evil at worst.
I can’t say I have too much memories tied to Little Paris. My family was too poor to afford me an allowance back then. There was no getting a sandwich and sugary drink with friends, no matter how cheap the banh mi is there. For my school mates with spending money, Little Paris was seemingly a popular destination. For them I guess it would be sad to see a piece of their childhood going away.
Big fortune.