Walmart announced it was out of crime-ridden Portland, Ore. earlier this year, and now the outdoor gear company, REI announced that it, too, will close its downtown Portland store as well.
Recreational Equipment Inc. made the announcement in a Monday statement:
“We are sad to share that our store in Portland’s Pearl District will close early next year,” the company wrote. “For nearly 20 years, REI has proudly served our members and the outdoor community from this location. We’ve had a presence in Oregon for over half of our 85-year history, opening our third store nationally at Jantzen Beach in 1976. The safety of our employees, members and customers is always our number one priority. In recent years, Portland has been dealing with increased crime in our neighborhood and beyond. Last year, REI Portland had its highest number of break-ins and thefts in two decades, despite actions to provide extra security.”
The company added that “we have outgrown this location and as a result are not able to provide the level of customer and employee experience we strive for at REI. For these reasons, we are no longer confident in our ability to serve you in this location. We remain dedicated to serving our community in the area and are continuously evaluating opportunities for new locations. While we do not believe a downtown Portland location will be possible in the near term, our stores in Tualatin, Hillsboro and Clackamas remain open and ready to outfit you with the gear and advice you need to enjoy life outside.”
REI has two stores in Alaska — one in Anchorage and a new location in Fairbanks. It has over 165 locations in 39 states. It’s a liberal company whose former CEO Sally Jewell became Secretary of Interior under President Barack Obama in 2013.
Other companies that have left downtown Portland include Daimler Chrysler, Airbnb, Banana Republic, Microsoft, Cracker Barrel, Umpqua Bank, Rains clothing, to name a few.
“Theft is an issue. It’s higher than what it has historically been,” Walmart CEO Doug McMillon told CNBC. He added that “prices will be higher and/or stores will close” if cities don’t crack down on shoplifting crimes.
Walmart also announced it is closing four Chicago stores that are “underperforming.” Most observers recognize that is code for “losing money from looters and shoplifters.” That leaves four Walmart stores in a city of 2.7 million people.
Yup. City is going to the 7th level of hell and the same people who voted and supported the nonsense are leaving.
Probably to infect somewhere else.
What city do you live in?
I’ve told you before.
Reading is fundamental.
Good for REI ! It’s unfortunate that not all businesses can leave.
Somebody needs to go downtown Portland with a video camera and take some footage of the used needles human feces and trash on the sidewalks and display it at the airport so visitors will have an idea what kind of adventure they will encounter so they can gear up with boots protective clothing and possibly a sidearm to reduce the risk of being victimized. That is what I encountered on a recent visit So no surprise businesses are vacating the premises. I just wonder if Sally has a clue what caused the chaos they are having to run from??? I will bet the farm not!
We need to put more people into Shawshank prison and this time with a better warden 😉
Maybe the citizens in Anchorage should pay heed to what is going on in the other “Blue” cities across the country.
Oh it’s already here. They (liberal Democrats), have turned Anchorage into a cesspool… Its gone…
Simple math. When it costs more to run the store than it makes in profit, it’s goes out of business. Law of the business jungle.
I put it to you that the city and state are complicit in forcing these store closings. If they allowed for proper security measures and backed up the rights of the stores to enact these measures, not only would the stores remain in business, they would thrive.
The proper measures would be security glass in all store windows and a remote lock on all doors. Next place one security specialist at the front customer door openly armed with a shotgun along with at least two floor employees, trained and armed with concealed handguns. At the first sign of any type of violence (and robberies are violent acts) any store employee can remotely lock the doors. If the criminals breach a door, the shotgun guard can engage. If the criminals enter the store undetected first, the shotgun guard covers the front door and the two armed employees engage. No matter how the engagement takes place a couple of dead robbers will send the message to the rest of the town that these actions will be met with swift and violent action.
Notice that crimes like strong arm robbery and car jacking are much less of a problem in states where the intended victims are usually armed and always willing to fight back.
Suck on the inevitable consequences of your insane, death-cult policies, all you radical leftists.
Sadly, no amount of evidence will sway them from their dogmatic and divorced-from-reality ‘woke’ religion.
Boo hoo hoo….lmfao! Sow rotten seeds , reap rotten fruit. Choke on it rei.
4 out of 8 Walmarts leaving Chitcago.
They are getting what they voted for.
Thats the thing with chickens…..
They ALWAYS come home to roost.
Go woke,go broke!!
Portland’s Pearl District is a nice name for Crime Ridden Heroine Cesspool. It hasn’t been a Pearl district since the 60’s when the rose parade was the grandest event of the year! There was nothing more than a handfull of harmless Hobos under the Burnside Bridge that used to jump the trains and travel cross country working a few days here and there to pay their way. My folks never had any problem with them and even offered some of them employment as day laborers when they were sober.
I used to like hearing stories of their travels as a youngster. When I was 16 I used to load our farm truck with scrap steel and copper and haul it to Portland to sell in the steel yards for cash and my dad was a construction worker who built the Fremont Bridge downtown Portland and he never once spoke of problems like they have today. He even became friends with some of the people that were homeless and offered help. Sadly those days are gone and more than likely never to return.
The Democrats have managed to turn the city into a crime ridden cesspool all built on a homeless haven much similar to what the Anchorage ASSembly is building here with our tax dollars. They absolutely do NOT want to solve the problem with the mayors solution of a transitional navigation center making an attempt at rehab for at least some of the homeless. They insist on feeding our money to the “nonprofits” such as Meg Zaletels camp at a hefty wage. If its nonprofit then it should be run by volunteers instead of ASSembly members steering money their way and then jump over the fence to collect a handsome 6 figure salary.
The criminal behaviour is so blatant. Felix’s plan was to buy the Arctic Rec center and have Fast Johnny Weddleton run the circus at another 6 figure salary. If anyone wants to see Anchorage’s future I urge you to visit downtown Portland with extreme caution and definitely get up to date with defensive gun safety.
Who is paying for all of this destruction of our cities? Soon, we won’t have any stores to go to and we will have to buy everything online.
Liberalism is truly a mental disorder.
Correction, John Galt, RADICAL LEFTISM is truly a mental disorder (and apparently a contagious one, an actual mind virus).
There is utterly nothing, not ONE thing, “liberal” about today’s radical leftists. With their arrogant, intolerant, rigidly dogmatic political and social death-cult agenda, they are in fact the very definition of illiberal.
You can’t fix stupid!
In a related development, Walmart also announced it is closing four Chicago stores that are “underperforming.” Most observers recognize that is code for “losing money from looters and shoplifters.”
Downtown Portland has become a dystopian nightmare. Thank you Neil Goldschmidt for getting this all started many years ago. For the curious, search “Elizabeth Dunham.”
Walmart (a child of globalism) devoured all mom and pop shops and brought diversity (also a child of globalism), now diversity is destroying Walmart. How ironic.
It’s a pity.
Walmart deserves every bit of chaos that comes their way. Any one who peddles nothing but chinese junk should reap what they sew.
I’ve noticed a trend in government . The larger the city Govt , the larger the homeless problem is . San Francisco received $2B for the 7,200 estimated lawless street campers during C-19 . Nothing has changed . The city Govt uses it for administrative costs creating programs that don’t really effect outcome . With the wealth of Anchorage , how could it possibly have a homeless issue ? It’s because of administrative costs . Let’s study the homeless some more . Now let’s ship the folks back to their villages . I see the same problem in Fbks in the summer . Folks come into Fbks and loiter around downtown and liquor stores . Send them back home if they are houseless . Because they are not homeless , just choose to be houseless .
REI has a “new location” in Fairbanks? Yeah, the Fairbanks store only opened nine years ago. Brand spankin’ new!
Time flies. – sd
Personally I just love seeing leftists eating their own and crapping where they eat. Morons deserve everything they get because they voted for this stupidity.
REI. The place the woke goes to try on stuff before they buy it off Amazon for less.
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