In Portland, Oregon, all Walmart retail stores will be coming to a close due to financial reasons. From shop lifting to not meeting the companies quota, these Portland stores will permanently close. Employees will have a choice to relocate to other Walmarts in other cities, and customers will choose a different location to pick up prescriptions. Walmart announced the first phase of its store redesigns in a company blog last year. It was shared that nearly 1,000 stores have been renovated with the new design.
There are 17 other Walmart locations outside of Portland and Vancouver. A total of 580 employees will be affected by the closures. Walmart’s announcement comes after other stores in Portland have closed, many of which cited crime. A clothing shop called Rains PDX permanently shut down in November after facing a string of break-ins that left the store financially gutted. The store owner even posted a blistering note on the shop’s doors slamming the city’s crime rate.
A Portland Nike store also shut down late last year following rampant shoplifting incidents, while a Cracker Barrel abruptly shut down last year, with employees citing security issues. Walmart gave a statement, “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.”
The Walmart CEO, Doug McMillion, previouly warned stores could close and prices could increase in light of sky-high retail crimes affecting stores across the country. “Theft is an issue. It’s higher than what it has historically been,” McMillion concluded about some of his Walmart retail stores. The Walmart CEO also said during his CNBC appearance that “prices will be higher and/or stores will close” if authorities not being strict about prosecuting theft isn’t “corrected over time.”
The locations at the Delta Park and Eastport Plaza shopping centers in North and Southeast Portland, will shutter Friday, March 24. Walmart says they are closing the stores, which serve as a haven for low-income shoppers across the city, because they were not meeting financial expectations.
A Walmart spokesperson added, “We consider many factors, including current and projected financial performance, location, population, customer needs, and the proximity of other nearby stores when making these difficult decisions. Our focus right now is taking care of our associates during this transition and working with our customers to transition their pharmacy, and other, shopping needs to nearby stores.”
The announced closures come amid a wave of violent crime across the Portland metro area, which includes retail thefts, armed robberies, and homicides. The city has also seen a surge of violent protests from ANTIFA and BLM groups. Oregon Live reported that in 2022, Portland set a new record for homicides with 101 cases, surpassing the previous year’s record of 92.
