Things continue to head downhill for Portland, Oregon, where stores that complained to the city about the crime situation and received no reprieve are closing up their doors rather than continue to deal with constant theft and other types of crime. The three big stores that did so are Target, Nike, and REI, all of which complained about crime in the city and then left when nothing was done.
In fact, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal on the situation in Portland, the companies that left had reached out to the city to state their concerns before leaving. It was only after the city did not help enough that the stores left.
That Wall Street Journal report claims that there were months, and sometimes years, of negotiations between the executives of companies like Target, Nike, and REI. In those messages, the companies requested more police near their locations, faster police response times, and for the city to clear out the homeless encampments near their stores. When the local government couldn’t address the retail crime issue, the stores left.
Nike, for example, announced what was then supposed to be a temporary closure of its Portland store in August of 2022. However, the store officials then announced in September of 2023 that it would not reopen, as the city was either unable or unwilling to satisfactorily increase the police presence near the store to limit crime.
Mayor Wheeler of Portland, explaining why he couldn’t do more to help Nike, said, “My team and city staff have worked tirelessly and in good faith with Nike for almost a year to offer creative solutions to their safety challenges. Ultimately, the City cannot offer Nike, or any other private business, with dedicated off-duty PPB officers due to PPB’s staffing shortage. I remain committed to supporting Nike’s future success in Portland and look forward to their future investments in our community.”
Similarly, in April of 2023, REI announced that it would be closing its doors in February of 2024, as that is when the lease expires. Explaining why, REI said that it did not feel confident it would be able to safely serve customers at the location, pointing to the immense number of thefts, the highest in two decades, it suffered in 2022.
Defending the city, Cody Bowman, a spokesperson for Mayor Wheeler, said, “The Portland Police Bureau and other public safety partners worked with REI directly to execute a retail theft mission at their Pearl location and developed proactive safety measures, including authorizing temporary security camera trailers at their loading dock and protective measures toward the front of their store.”
Joining them was Target. In September it announced that it would close three of its stores in Portland, explaining that the health and safety of both its staff and customers were put at danger by the organized retail theft targeting its stores. It added that it only closes locations after taking “meaningful steps to invest in the guest experience and improve business performance.”
Featured image credit: By Tedder – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92544504
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