OFF THE OREGON TRAIL
W’mart exits Portland
Walmart will close its last two stores in crimeplagued Portland, Ore., as the city contends with a relentless wave of shoplifting that has hammered retailers.
The closures, set for March 24, come months after CEO Doug McMillon warned the discount retailer was seeing a spike in “shrink,” a term the retail industry uses to address losses related to in-store theft or fraud.
“Theft is an issue. It’s higher than what it has historically been,” McMillon said during an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in December. “I think local law enforcement being staffed and being a good partner is part of that equation . . . If that’s not corrected over time, prices will be higher and/or stores will close.”
The company did not say if retail theft was a factor in shuttering the Walmart locations in the north and southeastern sections of the Rose City.
However, Portland police carried out a retail theft “blitz” earlier this month to crack down on shoplifting, KPTV reported.
“We’re having big retailers leave,” said Jordan Zaitz, a member of the Portland Police’s Neighborhood Response Team. “I mean, to have Walmart close two of its stores is a really big deal. The people in those neighborhoods, that’s where they shop.”
The decision to close the stores followed a “careful review of their overall performance,” a Walmart spokesperson told KPTV last month.
“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,” the spokesperson added.
600 layoffs loom
Nearly 600 employees face potential layoffs or transfers.
The Post reached out to Walmart for comment.
As of last year, Walmart had 4,720 stores in the US and 10,586 locations around the world.
Other major retailers with stores based in Portland have experienced issues with shoplifting.
Jeremy Girard of the Oregon Retail Crime Association told KGW that shoplifting has reached a “crisis level” in Portland. He estimated that the worst-affected stores were losing as much as $5 million per year to theft.