Walmart to close its final two locations in Portland

This headline (note it was originally published by the conservative rag National Review) is misleading. The executive quote from Walmart alluded to theft as a contributing factor, but the actual cause was underwhelming financial performance. I’ve been to one of those Walmarts. It was a dump, even before the pandemic. I also can’t think of many people in Portland that shop at Walmart— many better options.

Context:<p><i>“It is at a crisis level,” explained Jeremy Girard of the Oregon Retail Crime Association. Girard estimates some of the hardest hit stores in the Portland-area are losing between $1 million to $5 million annually to theft. Retailers across the city have been forced to hire private security guards, lock down valuable items, change store layout, reduce hours or simply close their doors.</i><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.kgw.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;news&#x2F;investigations&#x2F;shoplifters-steal-nike-home-depot-target-nobody-stopped-them&#x2F;283-d754ed41-ee02-4c8a-a661-9ef3c2e39323" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.kgw.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;news&#x2F;investigations&#x2F;shoplifters-...</a>

Regarding the theft issue at Walmarts in Oregon. A few years ago, the Walmarts in my area switched from 24-hour to 6-11. I asked a security guard at one and he said it was because of the tweakers who would throng through the store at night doing massive shoplifting. He said Oregon law prohibits private guards from checking people&#x27;s personal bags as they exit the store. A group of employees standing around as we had this conversation said they were all relieved they didn&#x27;t have to deal with the night crowd any more.

&gt; In a similar vein, Nike and Cracker Barrel locations closed in 2022 with companies citing similar reasons.<p>… Cracker Barrel?

This is kinda awesome

Hopefully local businesses weren&#x27;t shouldered out by Walmart. Good news for local stores.

How many stories are there about retail theft vs. employer wage theft?

Sounds a lot like using a &quot;downturn&quot; do layoffs, while really just to reducing expenses under pr cover. Does anyone believe anything that any giant corporation says any more?

Good riddance

Portland&#x27;s government divested from Walmart in 2014, a year after the closing Delta Park location opened: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newyorker.com&#x2F;business&#x2F;currency&#x2F;the-walmart-free-city" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newyorker.com&#x2F;business&#x2F;currency&#x2F;the-walmart-free...</a><p>Gresham, a city part of the east metro area, repeatedly repelled Walmart Supercenters and proposed regulating or even banning big-box stores in 2010 because of the push: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.oregonlive.com&#x2F;gresham&#x2F;2010&#x2F;11&#x2F;greshams_new_retail_building_s.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.oregonlive.com&#x2F;gresham&#x2F;2010&#x2F;11&#x2F;greshams_new_reta...</a><p>So did Oregon City, after a 12-year opposition: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.oregonlive.com&#x2F;oregon-city&#x2F;2014&#x2F;03&#x2F;wal-mart_bails_on_plan_for_ore.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.oregonlive.com&#x2F;oregon-city&#x2F;2014&#x2F;03&#x2F;wal-mart_bail...</a><p>Hillsboro rejected a 210k-sqft Supercenter in 2003; a smaller 48k-sqft store didn&#x27;t open there until in 2016, the same time Walmart closed stores in Lake Oswego and SW Portland: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.oregonlive.com&#x2F;washingtoncounty&#x2F;2016&#x2F;01&#x2F;hillsboro_walmart_neighborhood.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.oregonlive.com&#x2F;washingtoncounty&#x2F;2016&#x2F;01&#x2F;hillsbor...</a><p>The Hillsboro, Lake Oswego, and SW Portland stores were all 40-60k-sqft Neighborhood Markets, a different format pioneered for big-box resistance and deployed in Portland throughout the 2010s. The first of those anywhere on the West Coast opened in 2012 in the west metro suburb of Beaverton. (Gresham, which blocked a Supercenter, eventually approved two.): <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.oregonlive.com&#x2F;beaverton&#x2F;2012&#x2F;02&#x2F;wal-mart_to_open_first_west_co.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.oregonlive.com&#x2F;beaverton&#x2F;2012&#x2F;02&#x2F;wal-mart_to_ope...</a><p>The 25-year-old Eastport Supercenter is 4 blocks from a 50k-sqft employee-owned WinCo chain bargain supermarket, which opened in 2016 and isn&#x27;t closing: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.oregonlive.com&#x2F;window-shop&#x2F;2016&#x2F;05&#x2F;winco_opens_se_portland.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.oregonlive.com&#x2F;window-shop&#x2F;2016&#x2F;05&#x2F;winco_opens_s...</a><p>It&#x27;s also 8 blocks from the Fubonn food market mall, and 10 from a Shun Fat chain supermarket, all on SE 82nd. The Shun Fat took over the site of a former Kroger-owned Fred Meyer store on SE 82nd and Foster that closed in 2017, after both the Walmart and WinCo opened.<p>Chains have blamed closures on shoplifting for 20 years, going back to the pre-Kroger-buyout Fred Meyer closing one in Rockwood, a reputation that set back development efforts in the neighborhood for more than a decade: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.oregonlive.com&#x2F;gresham&#x2F;2012&#x2F;09&#x2F;rockwood_woman_determined_to_c.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.oregonlive.com&#x2F;gresham&#x2F;2012&#x2F;09&#x2F;rockwood_woman_de...</a><p>Bonus: A Multnomah County jury issued a $4.4M racial profiling judgment against Walmart in 2022 for an video-recorded incident in the suburban Wood Village Supercenter that allegedly involved loss prevention: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.oregonlive.com&#x2F;business&#x2F;2022&#x2F;08&#x2F;shopping-while-black-walmart-ordered-to-pay-portland-area-man-44m-for-summoning-police-on-bogus-charges.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.oregonlive.com&#x2F;business&#x2F;2022&#x2F;08&#x2F;shopping-while-b...</a><p>Walmart reports US$3B of shrinkage annually on 10,586 stores, or $283,393 per store: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.businessinsider.com&#x2F;walmart-ceo-stores-will-close-if-theft-at-retailer-doesnt-decline-2022-12" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.businessinsider.com&#x2F;walmart-ceo-stores-will-clos...</a><p>So the $4.4M judgment plus legal fees would be about 8 years&#x27; worth of inventory losses for both stores combined.

I...have no sympathy.

I wish they would give numbers. What is the current amount of shrinkage in dollars and how does that compare vs historical. After Walgreens[0] confessed to over-stating the problem, I would like to see more data. Especially since Target has also seen large spending declines as it has been dealing with excess inventory and consumer spending changes (necessities vs luxuries).<p>[0]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cnbc.com&#x2F;2023&#x2F;01&#x2F;05&#x2F;walgreens-may-have-overstated-theft-concerns.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cnbc.com&#x2F;2023&#x2F;01&#x2F;05&#x2F;walgreens-may-have-overstate...</a>

When this happened in SF with Walgreens people said that the stores that were closed were actually under performing to begin even without theft factored in, and that theft was used as an excuse to cover it up. Is it a similar situation here?