Allbirds is closing its last brick-and-mortar store in San Francisco

If the last San Francisco Allbirds store closes its doors and no one hears them close, does it make a sound?

Once symbolic of the San Francisco bro tech of the mid-2010s, the shoe brand Allbirds closed almost all its physical stores at the end of February. Only two outlet stores in the US and two full-price stores in London will remain.

“This is an important step for Allbirds, as we pursue profitable growth under our turnaround strategy,” Allbirds CEO Joe Vernachio said in a statement. “We have opportunistically reduced our brick-and-mortar portfolio over the past two years. By exiting this unprofitable door, we are taking action to reduce costs and support the long-term health of our business.”

Typical Allbirds wearers know that this company talk is a thinly veiled way of saying that the company’s current financial prospects are not looking good.

Allbirds was founded in San Francisco in 2015 and quickly became the “it” shoe among the startup’s employees (even TechCrunch employees once received the brand’s gray Allbirds shoes as company swag – is the current shortage of matching shoes an indicator of the recession?). The shoes are admittedly comfortable enough, but ugly in a way that only bad tech bros look for (which white woolen runners cool in a minimalist way, though). They are like Skechers, embracing comfort above all, but more expensive. And unlike Skechers, Allbirds doesn’t create a footwear line with the one and only Martha Stewart.

Like any company that customers can afford, Allbirds raised enough venture capital to secure it the price of the unicorn is over inflatedonly to go public in 2021 and flounder. The company’s current market capitalization is around $32 million and its stock is only a few dollars per share, but at least it has the awesome NASDAQ ticker symbol $BIRD.

This is not the end of the Allbirds era. The shoes are still available online, and although they are expensive, they are really good. But it may mark the end of an era when working with technology is like a ticket to lifelong stability. Right now, your company can only afford branded Patagonia vests if you work in AI, and even then, you’re probably plagued by worries that the AI ​​bubble might burst.

Perhaps this anxiety is driving the next Silicon Valley trend, where everything has to be efficient. Tech bros now wear Oura rings to track biometric data, log macros in MyFitnessPal, and eat Sweetgreen “Power Max” protein bowls with more than 100 grams of protein.

In that light, maybe it makes sense that he is 2016 nostalgia.