Target CEO Brian Cornell announced they will close nine stores across four states due to rising violent crime and organized retail theft.
Unsurprisingly, the nine store closures are in Democrat-run cities.
Employees and customers at Target’s New York location in Harlem mourned the store’s closure, as many will now be forced to travel further out of town to buy goods.
Target offers goods at affordable prices for residents on a fixed income, conveniently within walking distance from their homes.
But now, many struggling residents will no longer be able to buy much-needed affordable goods due to the store’s closure.
“You don’t have to go to Jersey,” Martiza Fabian told ABC7NY.
“You don’t have to go downtown. You walk down the block, you come to Target, it’s like home,” Fabian added.
“And it’s so sad that it’s going.”
Despite the “extra security” measures Target implemented to counter theft at their stores, it failed to deter violent crime.
Losses due to theft at Target could top $1.2 billion this fiscal year, Cornell predicts.
Meanwhile, violent crimes against Target workers soared 120% for the first five months of 2023, compared with the same period in 2022.
“Our team continues to face an unacceptable amount of retail theft and organized retail crime,” Cornell said
“Unfortunately, safety incidents associated with theft are moving in the wrong direction.”
In addition to Taregt’s Harlem closure, the retail giant will also close stores in the following locations.
Seattle
Portland (3 stores)
Oregon
San Francisco (3 stores)
The move to close the stores highlights the nightmare retailers like Target face in reducing theft and violent crime at their stores as they scramble to protect their workers and customers from violence.
The main victims are those on a low income and minority groups who rely on such stores to survive.
According to The National Retail Federation (NRF), shrink accounted for $112.1 billion in losses in 2021.
Theft accounted for almost 65% of shrink.
“Retailers are seeing unprecedented levels of theft coupled with rampant crime in their stores, and the situation is only becoming more dire,” said NRF Vice President for Asset Protection and Retail Operations David Johnston.
“Far beyond the financial impact of these crimes, the violence and concerns over safety continue to be the priority for all retailers, regardless of size or category.”
A series of thefts and robberies have become almost a daily occurrence at retail stores across the country, most notably in Democar-run cities.
Last month, a flash mob of looters ransacked a Nordstrom store at the Topanga Mall in Los Angeles as they attacked security guards with bear spray.
Looters stole an estimated $60,000 to $100,000 worth of merchandise from Nordstrom in the smash-and-grab attack, Los Angeles police said.
In August, the owner of an iconic retail store in San Francisco announced he would close the store’s doors after 160 years, warning that the deteriorating conditions are making the city “unlivable.”
San Francisco retailer Gumps CEO John Chachas said high crime and rampant public drug use are out of hand.
“It’s a sad state of affairs,” Mr. Challas told MacCallum.
“I spoke to a customer today who’s come to us for 50 consecutive Christmases and who won’t come back because the city is in a difficult and awfully dirty condition.”
“[I]f you can’t get around and when you’re trying to walk the streets, you step over needles and human waste and often bodies on the streets, it makes it an unworkable business environment,” Challas continued.
READ: Downtown San Francisco Resembles a “Ghost Town” as 22 Stores Shuttered in Under 2 Years
