Big-box stores closing down due to rising RETAIL THEFT

04/20/2023 / By Ramon Tomey

Several big-box retailers – including Walmart and Target – have closed down their stores due to an uptick in crimes at their establishments. Most of the branches that have shuttered for good are located in so-called blue cities controlled by the Democrats.

Walmart led the charge by closing as many as four stores in Chicago. The store closures in the Windy City followed similar moves in Portland, where the Arkansas-based company closed down locations due to being “unprofitable.”

“The simplest explanation is that collectively, our Chicago stores have not been profitable since we opened the first one nearly 17 years ago,” Walmart said in a statement. “These stores lose tens of millions of dollars a year, and their annual losses nearly doubled in just the last five years.”

An earlier statement from the big-box retailer about the Portland closures also echoed the sentiment of financial underperformance. It stated: “We have nearly 5,000 stores across the U.S. and unfortunately some do not meet our financial expectations. While our underlying business is strong, these specific stores haven’t performed as well as we hoped.”

But according to Breitbart‘s John Nolte, the real reason for the closure of Walmart’s Chicago stores is actually rooted in losses stemming from retail theft.

“It’s unlikely Walmart is worried about taxes or even violent criminals,” he wrote. “The problem is that shoplifting has been all but decriminalized, and these retailers are losing … tens of millions of dollars.”

Nolte also rebuked the Windy City’s electorate, calling them “insane voters” for continuing to elect radical leftists as mayors. He pointed out that while outgoing Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s lost the elections, Chicagoans voted for a more radical leftist in the person of Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson.

Other retailers closing down in crime-ridden blue cities

Walmart’s main competitor Target also announced a wave of store closures across several states. According to the Daily Mail, four locations in Maryland, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Virginia would close on May 13. The four Target stores “were rolled out about 10 years ago as a way to reach customers in more urban areas,” the Mail added.

Target lost roughly $400 million last November “due to organized gangs of shoplifters who had been stealing merchandise from its stores.” The company’s Chief Financial Officer Michael Fiddelke predicted that the company will incur losses of up to $600 million by the end of 2023.

Whole Foods Market, which is owned by Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, also closed its flagship store in downtown San Francisco. The store opened in March 2022 and had been operating for more than a year before it shuttered in April.

San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey blamed the closure of Whole Foods Market on the city’s lax treatment of criminals. He tweeted: “Our neighborhood waited a longtime for this supermarket, but we’re also well aware of problems they’ve experienced with drug-related retail theft, adjacent drug markets and the many safety issues related to them.”

Walgreens also joined the fray by closing one store in Chicago. It also closed branches in red states – one in Texas and two in Florida. Back in 2021, Walgreens closed as many as five stores in San Francisco due to an uptick in organized shoplifting there. (Related: Walgreens shutters 5 more San Francisco branches due to “ongoing organized retail crime.”)

Macy’s also announced the permanent closure of four stores – California, Colorado, Hawaii and Maryland – in the first quarter of 2023. The closures form part of the department store chain’s three-year plan to close 125 locations in the wake of organized retail crimes. Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette said the chain has experienced a rise in theft across all its stores, adding: “These are crime levels we haven’t seen before.”

Visit Collapse.news for more news about business closures prompted by rising retail crime.

Watch this clip from the Daily Caller about Walmart closing 269 stores due to retail theft.

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