Some of those locations were even in high income areas where the police are well funded, so even that possible explanation falls short.
I live near one of the "small format" stores that is closing, barely a year or two after opening (and a significant remodel). The "small format" stores suck. Lacking inventory, many items are locked behind cases, and there are more security guards than actual employees on the floor, so you spend a long time waiting for someone to unlock the item you need while being stared down by some goon in olive drab and body armor.
It sure feels a lot like they're blaming their bad business decisions on nebulous "criminal activity" that only happens to be in left-leaning towns, feeding directly into right-wing narratives. Identical to the CVS San Francisco stories from a few years ago
I hate it here
yeah, we had one close ish to our old place and it was always a hassle to get anything there. It was easier to drive across town
what's the incentive to make this shit up instead of just saying "we're closing this store, fuck you"
To give the news media more "crime bad" stories for scaring white suburban boomers.
It costs nothing to lie, maybe they get more police presence or inspire customers to rat on one another.
Scratched libs. What better way to
than to have pride merch one day and alienate a whole bunch of folks, and then win the "ordinary American" right back with crocodile tears over theft. So they get both the mainstream and the alternative subcultures as consumer bases for different reasons.The article mentions they were simultaneously lobbying for a harsher retail theft law
Don't spook the investors and get to lobby cities to give you more free cops at your other stores.
I’d love an investigative case study on this multi-year propaganda conspiracy amongst brick & mortar chains. Who came up with it? Where did the meeting(s) happen? What were the methods of communication? How were corporate media so well coordinated with it?
To be fair, I would probably go and commit crimes in an area that isn't near my house if I were to commit crimes. That way if things go south it's harder to find me, and I can just never visit the location again. Or so I would assume, as I do not commit crimes that are against the law.
