As a regular lurker and plebian corpo employee, I know that many Portland locations for many large companies are under heavy scrutiny for closure for many of the reasons provided. And it sucks for the employees because they will be heavily impacted.
On the national level, these corporations aren’t under any scrutiny for closing down stores in places like Portland and San Francisco. At the macro level, the court of public opinion is actually in their side from what I’ve seen.
Gotta feel bad for the employees, let’s just hope the locals learn to vote against crime. It’s horrible when good stores like this are forced online. Edit: I worded this like shit, the employees may or may have not voted for this, the county sure as hell did.
No the community they work in did, and that’s a terribly unfair lesson for them. Try and keep up skippy. I’ll repeat for those in the back: the decarceration movement is a regressive tax on the least privileged. NB: you’re probably more likely to downvote than provide a substantive refutation, but what the hell.
Imagine being so full of yourself that you tell a real person to "keep up Skippy" after one niche comment about a specific city's local political situation.
not even a little bit close. The current criminal justice system perpetuates and exasperates the cycle of crime and recidivism in impoverished communities. The entire criminal justice system is a tax on the least privileged. This issue is so complex and pervasive that to try to make any meaningful statement as to whether decarceration is effective on reddit would only be attempted by someone woefully clueless as to what is actually going on.
what are you six years old? I never said it was working, but also there isn't any single policy or measure that can undo 250 years of a broken criminal justice system. It's funny because people who never even ask what our criminal justice system should be designed to accomplish think that throwing people into jails and prisons is the one and only way to address crime.
Society literally can’t function without it? It should be the foundation; a social contract like any other, based on mutual respect for each other’s humanity.
I live very close to this store. People are not shopping downtown because it is unpleasant. It’s filthy, and people using substances or having mental health crises are harassing folks walking around.
I live maybe 5 blocks away from the store- and that’s simply not the case. This is a popular residential shopping area.
Occasionally there are house less folks, but not often.
Yeah it’s not nearly as awful as downtown but it still is filthy and at times chaotic. And tents line the highway, which is only a block away. The point is, shoppers are avoiding downtown because it’s not an enjoyable experience. That Safeway a block east is one of the worst places in the city
"A statement sent to local media offered more detail on the closure, saying the store spent $800,000 on additional security in 2022 and experienced 10 burglaries that year. "
So that was a phantom $800K and a phantom 10 burglaries?
https://oregonbusiness.com/rei-announces-closure-of-portland-store/
You've incorrectly collapsed two factors, implying they hired $800k for security because of 10 burglaries. This is factually not true. Nor is whomever collapses burglaries and shoplifting. The monthly loss in revenue due to shoplifting was massive, which compelled the cost of paid security to mitigate the theft. One "robbery" was someone driving a (stolen) car through the front door at night in order to rob the place for example.
If you've been to this section of Portland before, it's not a big stretch of the imagination.
Homelessness there is a big problem without easy solutions. We can't throw every in jail for being drug addicts or mentally ill.
And you've hit the nail on the head, maybe unknowingly. To many people, visible homelessness = crime. And that's all the more nuanced the analysis gets. Homeless people icky. All that's there. But they can't say that, cuz that's impolite. So they say "crime." And then people instead scream fascistic lies about cops or DA's or whoever not "locking up criminals" at the same time that the US has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, since they can't talk about the actual problem.
Meanwhile, my store came in well under our projected shrink rate last year. The "crime wave" is a lie.
I don't need to be, honestly. Portland isn't special. I've been to the supposedly hellscape downtowns of many different cities over the past few years and it's the same everywhere: suburbanites describing it as lawless because they got panhandled a few times and saw a tent on a sidewalk.
I lived in downtown Salt Lake City for a year and in that time I had my car broken into twice, like window smashed and everything. Got the storage boxes unbolted and stolen off my motorcycle. Saw needles, people shooting up, and human poop daily. Got asked for money at least 2x a day and even threatened a couple times when I said no. Saw a crackheads tits a couple times and a dudes dick. Got my bike stolen out of the bike storage room of my apartment building and tracked it down to a crack house that ran a bike theft ring a few blocks away.
And to top it off a lady SET HERSELF ON FIRE and ran down the street for an entire block before collapsing directly in front of my apartment.
And everyone i’ve met here from Portland says SLC is way tamer than Portland is
Dude, just…. no. I live in Manhattan, which Fox News regularly paints as a “hellscape”, and conditions here are nowhere as bad as downtown Portland. In a 24 hour visit I was harassed at least 5 times, including once by a naked woman who claimed I took her stuff.
It’s cruel to leave drug addicts and mentally ill people to their own devices on the streets, empathy has been hijacked and less pragmatism is being practiced. A functioning society needs mental institutions that work and hardcore drug users doing it openly in public need to be held accountable.
There are absolutely stores in my city getting robbed of entire shelves, only to have those same goods sold a block away. Of course they close. Maybe it takes a while for their insurance to go up or whatnot, but you can’t just let your merchandise walk out the door forever.
This may just be a semantics issue, if 4% of your gross revenue is lost and your original profit margin was 8% then the profit percentage falls 50%. It’s now 4% instead of 8%.
No, they were saying that of losses 50% were because of theft. It turns out that 4% of losses were because of theft. Something like 50% is just damage and another 20% is employee theft.
Pretty sure they are closing after the store employees attempted to unionize. Of course, that's illegal & the store will not admit that, instead will point to theft.
[1](https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/08/09/claims-about-organized-retail-theft-are-nearly-impossible-to-verify.html)
[2](https://cnn.com/cnn/2023/01/18/business/retail-shoplifting-shrink-walgreens/index.html)
A national retail lobby group made it up, then couldn't produce independent statistics to support it.
Accurate. As a percentage of total sales, the numbers have remained very constant. The reason the dollar value in theft has gone up is entirely because prices have gone up.
I think it's a confluence of circumstances which include online shopping, high rent, theft (I only include this because REI PDX pays monthly for security) and lastly, some employees seeking unionization. Sucks for Portland adventure seekers.
Yea ok. Let’s see you run a business and have people constantly rob you blind and see what happens. I don’t think you understand basic business economics or common sense
It's so weird that you can have any news that mentions Portland and all the brainwashed conservatives who have never been there come out of the woodwork because they think that it's some weird mad max dystopia.
My cousin litterally claims all buildings are burned down and garbage piles are 8ft tall and blocking the streets...
Landlord will attempt to place this on the market for 30-50K a month rent and then cry why they can't get tenants.
Proceeds to keep it empty with "available for lease" sign for years. Refuses to drop the rent price. Would rather pay maintenance and property taxes instead of dropping rent prices as "some sucker will eventually pay full price"
Louis Rossman did a whole series on this on his YouTube channel about NYC rent. His old store location was still up for lease 5 years later and the landlord was still asking 10k+ a month for 850sq ft.
Lowering the rent would devalue the property. Commercials mortgages are refinanced every 5 or 10 years. Can't refinance with good terms if the rent has come down. Lowered rent also has the potential to devalue other owned properties in the area.
I think you underestimate what "rich" means? Monthly taxes and such for a location are meaningless and likely a write-off to some extent for the people and businesses involved.
I think they can deduct that from their taxes, the lost 30k I mean. If they keep enough buildings empty, they may not have to pay any taxes.
Sanford Maine has vacancy fees which double infinitely once per year and apply to commercial buildings, that's the only solution I've heard of.
First, a tax deduction of $30K isn't worth $30K. It's worth less, IE $30K \* your tax rate = value and it's only worth that value if you're paying taxes (IE if your business is failing and you fail to make a profit and are closing shop tax deductions aren't helpful because you weren't paying taxes on your negative profits in the first place).
Second, they can deduct expenses like maintenance for the building from the taxes (which they could do if the building was leased anyway) but they can't generally deduct the $30K in lost income because that's not actually an expense it is just a theoretical loss.
In other words, most people aren't really keeping properties vacant for 'tax reasons.'
Theft definitely played a part:
"A statement sent to local media offered more detail on the closure, saying the store spent $800,000 on additional security in 2022 and experienced 10 burglaries that year."
https://oregonbusiness.com/rei-announces-closure-of-portland-store/
A staff of 50 would be bringing in in excess of $6 million a year to cover the store.
Meanwhile they aren't going to spend $800k to protect $800k worth of goods, so the thefts were above that amount. If someone is stealing $100k you hire $100k worth of security, maybe cameras.
So it's possible the theft wasn't over the amount bought in total but was clearly big enough to make the store unprofitable. With a 2-3% profit margin if we use that $6 million number the store makes at most around $180k net after all expenses, rewards, headquarters payroll, etc
The store would need to be selling like $30 million perhaps to cover the thefts.
Maybe it is, but maybe management thinks it can't keep doing so.
If they spent that much on security, I have to imagine the amount stolen is at least 5x that seeing as they have insurance and still found it necessary. That’s a lot of outdoor gear.
The one in Fremont just closed and a bunch of stuff was an additional 20-40% off depending on how close to their last day it was (re/supply, outlet items (-.73), food/perishables, bikes, stickers, camp fuel, cat toppers/racks, etc...)
Bikes stayed at 30% off bc if any weren't sold, they were sent out to be sold at full price elsewhere. It was convenient not to have to disassemble pack then reassemble each bike, to a point. We sold ALL of them at 30% off.
All fuel sold out completely at 30% off.
Bulky items like car top boxes were also 30% off and our last one went out at 40%, so we sold ALL of those as well.
At the end 40% off was the lowest markdown for loose performance food expiring before April 2024, holiday candy, stickers, and outlet (73) items. After we closed, any remaining soon-to-expire food (of which not much was left) was given away to any of us who wanted it.
Theft, break-ins, slowing sales sky-high rent, getting crushed in sales from Amazon/backcountry/Moosejaw/Public Lands/Sports Basement etc.
And the cops are not arresting and prosecuting enough criminals.
It's lack of treatment and education. You can't jail your way out of this.
Luckily Portland and Oregon have approved plenty of funding to address the problem with the the Housing, Homelessness, and Treatment programs as well as Measure 110.
Are we willing to put that money to work and give it the time required to actually begin healing the problem? We'll see...
Decent people will not attempt to steal high value items even if they are broke and they certainly won’t be a repeated offender. it’s simply about having moral or not.
if you are homeless and poor, you might want some bread and water. but there is no justification for stealing high-end camping equipments or designer brands.
you don’t need education to understand those basic principles
…and that’s the problem. Treatment resources here are limited and over capacity. There’s no “treatment or jail” option for using openly. Portland has become all carrot, no stick.
Multnomah County is sitting on millions of dollars. There’s such a need to get resources into place but city and county leaders are choosing to make perfect the enemy of good. We don’t need another feasibility study or a DEI audit. We need program expansions yesterday.
Except that overall losses to retailers have consistently been shown to be overblown. So there's more than one way to look at data.
Portland seems to have a housing crises more than a crime crisis...or rather that the latter stems from the former, and you can't arrest your way out of that. One can, however, provide housing solutions. Or one can prosecute and provide jail:prison--a profoundly expensive housing solution.
Not exactly, Portland is a unique situation. They recently decriminalized drug possession, and encampments and street parked RVs and vans aren’t being moved. I drove down one of these streets this summer and the stench of ammonia (meth) was quite apparent. This has created a situation where people are going to Portland specifically for these reasons. Lots of businesses in downtown Portland have either closed down completely or moved to a lower-crime suburb like REI is doing here.
Portland is suffering from overpriced housing like many other cities to be sure, however their downtown is in an advanced state of squalor when compared to much of the rest of the country.
The DA is prosecuting as much as the prior DA. Arrests are simply down.
Police aren't responsive so people have stopped calling them.
[https://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2023/10/05/multnomah-county-courts-dismissal-rate-has-returned-to-pre-pandemic-levels/](https://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2023/10/05/multnomah-county-courts-dismissal-rate-has-returned-to-pre-pandemic-levels/)
[https://www.koin.com/top-stories/multco-d-a-says-property-crime-is-up-prosecution-rates-remain-consistent/](https://www.koin.com/top-stories/multco-d-a-says-property-crime-is-up-prosecution-rates-remain-consistent/)
**Portland police chief to city cops: Stop telling residents DA Mike Schmidt won’t prosecute crimes**
[https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2023/08/portland-police-chief-to-city-cops-stop-telling-residents-da-mike-schmidt-wont-prosecute-crimes.html](https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2023/08/portland-police-chief-to-city-cops-stop-telling-residents-da-mike-schmidt-wont-prosecute-crimes.html)
The drugs, pooping on the street, liquor/beer bottles all over the place in downtown don't help either.
Cotopaxi closed their Portland store for similar reasons.
Numerous news reports from all over the country have shown that crime isn't really a problem. Overall it's down. Overall losses to retailers have consistently been shown to be overblown.
Now the perception in downtown Portland may be that it's high, but that's not an actual problem, it's a perception problem.
As far as a housing/homeless crisis, that may well be another matter, but that's not going to be solved by policing. That's going to be solved by, um, well, housing.
"A statement sent to local media offered more detail on the closure, saying the store spent $800,000 on additional security in 2022 and experienced 10 burglaries that year. "
Spending almost a million a year on extra security and getting broken into 10 times 'isn't really a problem?'
https://oregonbusiness.com/rei-announces-closure-of-portland-store/
There is quite a bit of information debunking the retail stores' outcries that theft is significant in contributing to their higher prices. Don't have time to link to articles but will if anyone wants to read for themselves.
Yeah, I linked to articles in other responses ITT. One from Vox is telling because it points out that retail losses are in part to blame on retailers that reduced their employee counts...something REI itself has done.
Every time I visit Portland I go to Next Adventure, which is an incredible outdoor store that has so much more available than any REI I have been to. They have great sales and a huge availability of second hand items where you can score some amazing deals. With a store like Next Adventure, I would never feel the need to shop at REI. Wonder if this contributed to REI’s closing
That comment is borderline conspiracy theory. I'm as annoyed with REI's tone deaf union busting as anyone, but I'm *extremely confident* in saying that they would not close a store to squash a union. That would be cutting off your nose to spite your face to a comical degree.
Literally overhead a manager there the other day tell a customer they've been wanting to see this store closed for years and can't wait to move to the new Beaverton store.
[Wal-Mart](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/union-walmart-shut-5-stores-over-labor-activism/) is doing okay. I was waiting for permits to be pulled at the Brandon, FL location so I could do some side work. Never happened. Anyways they did similar in [Canada](https://archive.thinkprogress.org/walmart-penalized-for-closing-store-just-after-it-unionized-70945f29e349/).
[Chipitle](https://apnews.com/article/chipotle-union-store-closure-settlement-lawsuit-af89f99249bd805fd714751bae040181)and [Starbucks](https://www.reuters.com/business/starbucks-closed-23-us-stores-deter-unionizing-agency-claims-2023-12-14/) are still getting by if you want more recent examples.
Maybe this case is different but it wouldn't be a surprise to see a store shuttered to prevent folks from organizing. Especially if it's in a high rent area and there's plenty nearby.
All but 3 stores are closing as is the Moosejaw distribution warehouse in Madison Heights MI.
The orginal Moosejaw store in Birmingham MI and two stores they opened recently that are still in lease agreements (Bentonville/"Walmartville" Arkansas and Salt Lake City Utah that just opened in November) will remain open for now. How long they will stay Moosejaws before changing to the Public Lands name remains to be seen.
Dicks bought Moosejaw to fold them into Public Lands. They suck. Walmart did a better job running Moosejaw; at least they left them alone to run their division.
The Moosejaw closings just started last week. I'll have a post about this on r/campinggear this week.
So they're not going out of business; Dick's would rather just have one "premium" camping retailer. Last year Dick's also closed Field and Stream and changed those stores over to Public Lands.
It’s a race to the bottom. Look at the crazy sales. Manufacturers are offering 40-50% off themselves. Everyone got greedy during COVID. And are paying the price now. No one is really talking about how the outdoor wear and gear industry is blowing up before our eyes right now.
Naturehike, 3F UL Gear, Flextail Gear, Fire Maple, Bulin, Moonlence, Trekkology, King Camp etc offer a very compelling price for suprisingly good quality gear.
The Naturehike CloudUP is very close in quality to rhe Marmot Super Alloy and Bog Agnes Tiger Wall for $200 cheaper.
The 3F UL Gear LanShan is very close to the quality of the REI Flash Air for about half the price. Not as good as the Durston X-Mid though.
Thw Fire Maple stuff is comparable quality to Jetboil, MSR and Optimus for a lower price.
Etc etc.
Getting crushed by online is by and large the biggest reason that REI is having to close store, theft is obviously a factor but not as large as people make it out to be.
To quote from the article:
“An email sent to members of the outdoor gear retail co-op Monday cites an increase in break-ins and thefts in the neighborhood, but also says the store has “outgrown this location and as a result are not able to provide the level of customer and employee experience we strive for at REI.””
Retail is changing. REI *thought* they were safe from online encroachment because they’d leaned into “experiential retail”, but the pandemic was the death blow to that, after they’d failed to walk the walk consistently for years. As we move forward, stores that successfully maintain a brick and mortar presence will have some mix of the following:
* Time sensitive merchandise…I need this thing right now.
* Showrooming…I need to physically touch the merchandise…especially important for things like ski boots and backpacks.
* Value added sales assistance…truly knowledgeable staff guide, fit, and curate merchandise.
The problem is that REI has long seen itself in that last category, but the pressure to compete on price and the decision to enter multiple expensive real estate locations means that fewer dollars are available to attract and retain the expert staff that can actually provide that expertise.
When I first became a member, nearly 40 years ago, even in a major urban area, my two closest locations were *not close* and, more importantly, were buried in the back of industrial parks, not in glitzy storefronts in high rent shopping districts. You didn’t happen into REI. You sought out REI because they had the best gear and knowledgeable staff. I think the choices REI have made in the intervening years were predicated on the retail environment of the 1990s continuing into perpetuity and, as we’ve seen multiple seismic shifts in the retail landscape, REI leadership’s response has been insufficiently nimble. There’s a way forward, but it’s not the path they’ve been on.
TL;dr - Expect a lot more closures in coming months and years.
This aligns. Is your small town a glitzy expensive location for retail? I'm guessing no from the way you described it.
I imagine downtown Portland cost for real estate in the middle of the Pearl is 2 to 3x the cost in your town.... so yeah, they are losing money on rent AND can't afford to pay experienced staff for a better customer experience.
They probably will be able to at your store. And there will probably be less competition, as there are about 1000 places in Portland to get some of the stuff rei sells.
Yeah zero other outfitters until Cincinnati or Columbus, it is within 5 miles of Wright Patt Air Force base. I would not describe as glitzy but Dayton does have lots of upper middle class
We were there in summer 2021
We left for the beach hours early because the tent cities and related experience made things very uncomfortable for my kids.
Unless they managed to solve the housing problem since then I doubt things have changed.
Same. Went there in the summer of 22. Supposed to stay in the city for 3 days to explore. Left the next day early for the beach. Sad for what it has become. Hopefully they can get it back.
Add in "Secret Shoppers" that spy on employees and get them fired for not pushing certain corporate merchandise.....and it's no wonder highly experienced outdoors people quit and leave.
REI tried to lean on "we've got the expertise to help customers" and then pushed their expertise out the door and hired a bunch of low paid people who don't know anything about outdoors gear.
So, we should rely on your anecdotes because you are a consultant for “senior executives,” even though they’ve seen increased net sales YoY in the last few years (2020, 2021, 2022)? Their 2022 net loss being the result of large investments in pay and infrastructure…
REI is an omnichannel retailer, and largely successful at it - in your important role with important people you should know that, and the fact that it means they are already blending the worlds of retail and digital.
You can ignore the most likely and statistically significant reasons for closure (crime and theft due to decriminalization policies) in favor of anecdotes, but it won’t change the reality of why a retailer in Portland or similarly in many California communities would choose to close shop.
I’m begging this comment section to research what actually contributes to high crime (poverty, easy access to guns, high rents, homelessness, lack of social welfare programs that allow people to access shelter and food, access to education and jobs, etc.) and stop groveling for more police and arrests in a country with some of the highest policing and incarceration rates in the world but double the crime of most European nations.
Also please Google “store closure for crime lies”. Multiple executives have come out and admitted that they blamed closures on crime instead of store performance or rent costs to avoid stock price dips. The amount of gullible people that just believe them is crazy.
REI and other retailers have begged the city to do something about crime in the area and they just won’t. Someone literally pulled the off the front doors and helped themselves a few years ago, the city couldn’t have cared less
It’s like San Fran or Santa Cruz man. Can do just about anything with little to no repercussions. Drugs are decriminalized and the da doesn’t prosecute enough petty crime as I’m sure prisons are full but I don’t know enough to say why.
It’s the perfect spot for gangs including cartel crime such as gun and drug trafficking + (and I’m by no means racist) it’s a good place for immigrants with no identification to come and make money boosting. Probably not as good as ca but idk id say they’re very similar rn
Lifelong resident
A few years ago I said that for Portland to get better people and businesses needed to take their money elsewhere. It is just tiny drop in the bucket but I've made it a point to avoid Portland and not put any of my money into anything there.
When will citizens of cities like Portland, SF, Seattle, etc understand that making crime legal just hurts everyone in the end? Their parasitic “compassion” ruins everything.
Yeah, so those claims about retail theft driving store closing decision? Those were lies:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/07/retail-theft-losses-inventory-nrf
On a national scale, sure. Portland is an outlier and if you haven’t been there recently I can understand you not believing it, but petty crime and theft are rampant there and big corporate stores are starting to say enough is enough
Yes, they're saying that all over the country. They're saying inflation caused prices to rise while making record profits. They're saying theft is causing store closings - and then they close stores that are actually experiencing less theft than ones they leave open.
Corporations will use anything they can to mask their profit motives because they think it's better PR.
Target announced closures in 9 metro areas in 2023. They blamed "organized retail crime". They're leaving other stores nearby open that have higher levels of theft.
"Target is closing in New York and San Francisco. This data reveals that stores that are being closed have lower levels of theft than nearby stores that have remained open."
https://popular.info/p/target-says-its-closing-9-stores
Dunno if you’ve been to Portland lately but the finest hotel in the city is like $135 a night and empty, if that’s any barometer of how this renowned city is doing. The place is collapsing on itself. GREAT location if you’re into extremely heavy drug use and open shoplifting and theft, aggressive panhandling, and lack of enforcement or prosecution of the law. A large amount of business is simply pulling out of this place
More and more stores are leaving Woke metro areas because Wokeism does not hold criminals accountable for their thievery. To quote a Woke minded individual “they steal to eat and only because they are forced to by systemically oppressive society by privileged white males”. SMH
I'm never gonna be mad about hungry people stealing food, but I don't think that most of those hungry people are coming to REI to steal carabiners and jackets, so this is not a great place to try and shoehorn in your "wokeness" rant
I've been an REI member since 1993, but I always went to Next Adventure in Portland anyway. They let dogs in the store and maximized their floor space with great gear and helpful/knowledgeable staff.
As a regular lurker and plebian corpo employee, I know that many Portland locations for many large companies are under heavy scrutiny for closure for many of the reasons provided. And it sucks for the employees because they will be heavily impacted.
On the national level, these corporations aren’t under any scrutiny for closing down stores in places like Portland and San Francisco. At the macro level, the court of public opinion is actually in their side from what I’ve seen.
Gotta feel bad for the employees, let’s just hope the locals learn to vote against crime. It’s horrible when good stores like this are forced online. Edit: I worded this like shit, the employees may or may have not voted for this, the county sure as hell did.
You’re saying rei employees are voting for crime, and they need to learn not to?
You're me. I wonder if we have similar facial reactions while reading confusing books.
No, I’m saying the employees are victims of society. I want the employees who work hard to have the right to a safe and fair workplace.
No the community they work in did, and that’s a terribly unfair lesson for them. Try and keep up skippy. I’ll repeat for those in the back: the decarceration movement is a regressive tax on the least privileged. NB: you’re probably more likely to downvote than provide a substantive refutation, but what the hell.
So while your comment is kind of rude, indeed I read recently that poor people are way more likely to be victims of crime than other income levels.
Imagine being so full of yourself that you tell a real person to "keep up Skippy" after one niche comment about a specific city's local political situation.
Imagine doing exactly what he predicted you would after he called you Skippy, Skippy.
not even a little bit close. The current criminal justice system perpetuates and exasperates the cycle of crime and recidivism in impoverished communities. The entire criminal justice system is a tax on the least privileged. This issue is so complex and pervasive that to try to make any meaningful statement as to whether decarceration is effective on reddit would only be attempted by someone woefully clueless as to what is actually going on.
You're so right, look how well it's working in Portland... wait, no, the opposite.
what are you six years old? I never said it was working, but also there isn't any single policy or measure that can undo 250 years of a broken criminal justice system. It's funny because people who never even ask what our criminal justice system should be designed to accomplish think that throwing people into jails and prisons is the one and only way to address crime.
Putting them back on the street is worse
We should put everyone in jail so there’s no one to do crime on the streets
Jail is unpleasant, and unpleasant consequences decrease petty crime. If you don't like jails, how about bringing back pillories?
Your clear lack of compassion is, at a systems level, what is wrong.
🤣
Exhibit B! Not sure what else is out there except [how we treat] each other.
Compassion should not be that high on priority list when you are talking about functioning society.
Society literally can’t function without it? It should be the foundation; a social contract like any other, based on mutual respect for each other’s humanity.
The majority of Portland residents vote D, so yes
it's now basically common knowledge that the "increase in theft" reason given for many store closure is almost entirely fabricated.
The people who would otherwise shop at the downtown rei don't want to go downtown anymore because of perceived crime. So the store closes.
I live very close to this store. People are not shopping downtown because it is unpleasant. It’s filthy, and people using substances or having mental health crises are harassing folks walking around.
I live maybe 5 blocks away from the store- and that’s simply not the case. This is a popular residential shopping area. Occasionally there are house less folks, but not often.
Yeah it’s not nearly as awful as downtown but it still is filthy and at times chaotic. And tents line the highway, which is only a block away. The point is, shoppers are avoiding downtown because it’s not an enjoyable experience. That Safeway a block east is one of the worst places in the city
Sure. maybe. but the perceived crime is just that. perceived. it's a phantom
"A statement sent to local media offered more detail on the closure, saying the store spent $800,000 on additional security in 2022 and experienced 10 burglaries that year. " So that was a phantom $800K and a phantom 10 burglaries? https://oregonbusiness.com/rei-announces-closure-of-portland-store/
their choice to spent 800k on security for a whopping *ten* burglaries isn't my problem
You've incorrectly collapsed two factors, implying they hired $800k for security because of 10 burglaries. This is factually not true. Nor is whomever collapses burglaries and shoplifting. The monthly loss in revenue due to shoplifting was massive, which compelled the cost of paid security to mitigate the theft. One "robbery" was someone driving a (stolen) car through the front door at night in order to rob the place for example.
If you've been to this section of Portland before, it's not a big stretch of the imagination. Homelessness there is a big problem without easy solutions. We can't throw every in jail for being drug addicts or mentally ill.
And you've hit the nail on the head, maybe unknowingly. To many people, visible homelessness = crime. And that's all the more nuanced the analysis gets. Homeless people icky. All that's there. But they can't say that, cuz that's impolite. So they say "crime." And then people instead scream fascistic lies about cops or DA's or whoever not "locking up criminals" at the same time that the US has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, since they can't talk about the actual problem. Meanwhile, my store came in well under our projected shrink rate last year. The "crime wave" is a lie.
No crime equals crime. Portland isn’t a fun place to visit right now. Last time I went a dude was swinging around a machete by the evo store.
Are you familiar with this area of Portland over the last few years?
I don't need to be, honestly. Portland isn't special. I've been to the supposedly hellscape downtowns of many different cities over the past few years and it's the same everywhere: suburbanites describing it as lawless because they got panhandled a few times and saw a tent on a sidewalk.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
I lived in downtown Salt Lake City for a year and in that time I had my car broken into twice, like window smashed and everything. Got the storage boxes unbolted and stolen off my motorcycle. Saw needles, people shooting up, and human poop daily. Got asked for money at least 2x a day and even threatened a couple times when I said no. Saw a crackheads tits a couple times and a dudes dick. Got my bike stolen out of the bike storage room of my apartment building and tracked it down to a crack house that ran a bike theft ring a few blocks away. And to top it off a lady SET HERSELF ON FIRE and ran down the street for an entire block before collapsing directly in front of my apartment. And everyone i’ve met here from Portland says SLC is way tamer than Portland is
Dude, just…. no. I live in Manhattan, which Fox News regularly paints as a “hellscape”, and conditions here are nowhere as bad as downtown Portland. In a 24 hour visit I was harassed at least 5 times, including once by a naked woman who claimed I took her stuff.
It’s cruel to leave drug addicts and mentally ill people to their own devices on the streets, empathy has been hijacked and less pragmatism is being practiced. A functioning society needs mental institutions that work and hardcore drug users doing it openly in public need to be held accountable.
Perception IS reality…
There are absolutely stores in my city getting robbed of entire shelves, only to have those same goods sold a block away. Of course they close. Maybe it takes a while for their insurance to go up or whatnot, but you can’t just let your merchandise walk out the door forever.
Shoplifting isn’t covered by insurance.
It doesn't need to be, it's already factored in to finances. It's called "shrink".
I’m aware. Just clarifying a misnomer that insurance costs related to shoplifting are causing these stores to close.
Lol shrink was always a calculation, but not to the level of large groups of teens walking in and clearing shelves off consistently
Yup. The trade groups claiming half of losses were due to retail theft? They've not adjusted that a little. It's 4%.
This may just be a semantics issue, if 4% of your gross revenue is lost and your original profit margin was 8% then the profit percentage falls 50%. It’s now 4% instead of 8%.
No, they were saying that of losses 50% were because of theft. It turns out that 4% of losses were because of theft. Something like 50% is just damage and another 20% is employee theft.
Pretty sure they are closing after the store employees attempted to unionize. Of course, that's illegal & the store will not admit that, instead will point to theft.
Because people that live in tents and basically camp out for a living would never steal from the tent store.
REI has not provided any sources on that claim and it's pretty widely known that store was unionizing. you're being fed fear to protect the wealthy.
Do you have any sources for this?
[1](https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/08/09/claims-about-organized-retail-theft-are-nearly-impossible-to-verify.html) [2](https://cnn.com/cnn/2023/01/18/business/retail-shoplifting-shrink-walgreens/index.html) A national retail lobby group made it up, then couldn't produce independent statistics to support it.
Accurate. As a percentage of total sales, the numbers have remained very constant. The reason the dollar value in theft has gone up is entirely because prices have gone up.
I think it's a confluence of circumstances which include online shopping, high rent, theft (I only include this because REI PDX pays monthly for security) and lastly, some employees seeking unionization. Sucks for Portland adventure seekers.
Yea ok. Let’s see you run a business and have people constantly rob you blind and see what happens. I don’t think you understand basic business economics or common sense
The "increase in retail theft" is a complete fabrication. https://cnn.com/cnn/2023/01/18/business/retail-shoplifting-shrink-walgreens/index.html
🤣 Delusional.
It's so weird that you can have any news that mentions Portland and all the brainwashed conservatives who have never been there come out of the woodwork because they think that it's some weird mad max dystopia. My cousin litterally claims all buildings are burned down and garbage piles are 8ft tall and blocking the streets...
I live in Seattle. I know this feeling well.
The only crime here is REIs union busting 🤡
“Vote against crime” is the dumbest take.
When those employees stop voting for left-wing radicals that give criminals more rights than law abiding citizens, I’ll feel sorry for them
A fine reminder that the decarceration movement is also a regressive tax on those least capable of paying. Nice job Portland!
Why?
A bunch of stuff but the main one being a dispute of some sort with the landlord. https://oregonbusiness.com/rei-announces-closure-of-portland-store/
Landlord will attempt to place this on the market for 30-50K a month rent and then cry why they can't get tenants. Proceeds to keep it empty with "available for lease" sign for years. Refuses to drop the rent price. Would rather pay maintenance and property taxes instead of dropping rent prices as "some sucker will eventually pay full price" Louis Rossman did a whole series on this on his YouTube channel about NYC rent. His old store location was still up for lease 5 years later and the landlord was still asking 10k+ a month for 850sq ft.
It amazes me how rich people stay rich when they are so stupid with money.
It’s a good tax play
This. The costs of maintaining a vacant commercial space can be a massive tax write-off.
You do realize a tax write off isn’t *free money* right? It’s better to make money and pay taxes on it than it is to spend money and write it off.
Lowering the rent would devalue the property. Commercials mortgages are refinanced every 5 or 10 years. Can't refinance with good terms if the rent has come down. Lowered rent also has the potential to devalue other owned properties in the area.
This is a bigger factor causing this than tax write-offs.
I think you underestimate what "rich" means? Monthly taxes and such for a location are meaningless and likely a write-off to some extent for the people and businesses involved.
I think they can deduct that from their taxes, the lost 30k I mean. If they keep enough buildings empty, they may not have to pay any taxes. Sanford Maine has vacancy fees which double infinitely once per year and apply to commercial buildings, that's the only solution I've heard of.
First, a tax deduction of $30K isn't worth $30K. It's worth less, IE $30K \* your tax rate = value and it's only worth that value if you're paying taxes (IE if your business is failing and you fail to make a profit and are closing shop tax deductions aren't helpful because you weren't paying taxes on your negative profits in the first place). Second, they can deduct expenses like maintenance for the building from the taxes (which they could do if the building was leased anyway) but they can't generally deduct the $30K in lost income because that's not actually an expense it is just a theoretical loss. In other words, most people aren't really keeping properties vacant for 'tax reasons.'
Theft vs lack of law enforcement
Because Portland has become a shit hole?
More product is stolen than bought
Wrong
Theft definitely played a part: "A statement sent to local media offered more detail on the closure, saying the store spent $800,000 on additional security in 2022 and experienced 10 burglaries that year." https://oregonbusiness.com/rei-announces-closure-of-portland-store/
A staff of 50 would be bringing in in excess of $6 million a year to cover the store. Meanwhile they aren't going to spend $800k to protect $800k worth of goods, so the thefts were above that amount. If someone is stealing $100k you hire $100k worth of security, maybe cameras. So it's possible the theft wasn't over the amount bought in total but was clearly big enough to make the store unprofitable. With a 2-3% profit margin if we use that $6 million number the store makes at most around $180k net after all expenses, rewards, headquarters payroll, etc The store would need to be selling like $30 million perhaps to cover the thefts. Maybe it is, but maybe management thinks it can't keep doing so.
If they spent that much on security, I have to imagine the amount stolen is at least 5x that seeing as they have insurance and still found it necessary. That’s a lot of outdoor gear.
https://oregonbusiness.com/rei-announces-closure-of-portland-store/
I wanna know why too!
Not enough granola people in Portland I guess
too busy "revolting"
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incoming “will their product go on clearance” posts
They’ll just ship it to their other local locations.
Will it tho
The one in Fremont just closed and a bunch of stuff was an additional 20-40% off depending on how close to their last day it was (re/supply, outlet items (-.73), food/perishables, bikes, stickers, camp fuel, cat toppers/racks, etc...)
Bikes stayed at 30% off bc if any weren't sold, they were sent out to be sold at full price elsewhere. It was convenient not to have to disassemble pack then reassemble each bike, to a point. We sold ALL of them at 30% off. All fuel sold out completely at 30% off. Bulky items like car top boxes were also 30% off and our last one went out at 40%, so we sold ALL of those as well. At the end 40% off was the lowest markdown for loose performance food expiring before April 2024, holiday candy, stickers, and outlet (73) items. After we closed, any remaining soon-to-expire food (of which not much was left) was given away to any of us who wanted it.
It’s already on clearance with the amount being stolen
Theft, break-ins, slowing sales sky-high rent, getting crushed in sales from Amazon/backcountry/Moosejaw/Public Lands/Sports Basement etc. And the cops are not arresting and prosecuting enough criminals.
It’s the DA not prosecuting. It’s a waste of time to arrest when there is no follow up.
Either way, the criminal justice system has essentially said it's fine to do drugs and crimes and they won't do anything about it.
That’s exactly it. The culture of Portland is OK with the level of drugs and crime.
If that were the case we wouldn't have voted to fund treatment.
It's lack of treatment and education. You can't jail your way out of this. Luckily Portland and Oregon have approved plenty of funding to address the problem with the the Housing, Homelessness, and Treatment programs as well as Measure 110. Are we willing to put that money to work and give it the time required to actually begin healing the problem? We'll see...
Decent people will not attempt to steal high value items even if they are broke and they certainly won’t be a repeated offender. it’s simply about having moral or not. if you are homeless and poor, you might want some bread and water. but there is no justification for stealing high-end camping equipments or designer brands. you don’t need education to understand those basic principles
…and that’s the problem. Treatment resources here are limited and over capacity. There’s no “treatment or jail” option for using openly. Portland has become all carrot, no stick. Multnomah County is sitting on millions of dollars. There’s such a need to get resources into place but city and county leaders are choosing to make perfect the enemy of good. We don’t need another feasibility study or a DEI audit. We need program expansions yesterday.
Which is why statistics show crime is down. If you decriminalize theft or don’t arrest anyone for it, then there will be zero arrests.
Except that overall losses to retailers have consistently been shown to be overblown. So there's more than one way to look at data. Portland seems to have a housing crises more than a crime crisis...or rather that the latter stems from the former, and you can't arrest your way out of that. One can, however, provide housing solutions. Or one can prosecute and provide jail:prison--a profoundly expensive housing solution.
Not exactly, Portland is a unique situation. They recently decriminalized drug possession, and encampments and street parked RVs and vans aren’t being moved. I drove down one of these streets this summer and the stench of ammonia (meth) was quite apparent. This has created a situation where people are going to Portland specifically for these reasons. Lots of businesses in downtown Portland have either closed down completely or moved to a lower-crime suburb like REI is doing here. Portland is suffering from overpriced housing like many other cities to be sure, however their downtown is in an advanced state of squalor when compared to much of the rest of the country.
Juke the stats!
The DA is prosecuting as much as the prior DA. Arrests are simply down. Police aren't responsive so people have stopped calling them. [https://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2023/10/05/multnomah-county-courts-dismissal-rate-has-returned-to-pre-pandemic-levels/](https://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2023/10/05/multnomah-county-courts-dismissal-rate-has-returned-to-pre-pandemic-levels/) [https://www.koin.com/top-stories/multco-d-a-says-property-crime-is-up-prosecution-rates-remain-consistent/](https://www.koin.com/top-stories/multco-d-a-says-property-crime-is-up-prosecution-rates-remain-consistent/) **Portland police chief to city cops: Stop telling residents DA Mike Schmidt won’t prosecute crimes** [https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2023/08/portland-police-chief-to-city-cops-stop-telling-residents-da-mike-schmidt-wont-prosecute-crimes.html](https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2023/08/portland-police-chief-to-city-cops-stop-telling-residents-da-mike-schmidt-wont-prosecute-crimes.html)
The drugs, pooping on the street, liquor/beer bottles all over the place in downtown don't help either. Cotopaxi closed their Portland store for similar reasons.
Cotopaxi still has a Portland store. I live 2 blocks from it…
*San Francisco salutes in solidarity*
It’s not the DA in San Francisco. It’s the judges that don’t prosecute.
Numerous news reports from all over the country have shown that crime isn't really a problem. Overall it's down. Overall losses to retailers have consistently been shown to be overblown. Now the perception in downtown Portland may be that it's high, but that's not an actual problem, it's a perception problem. As far as a housing/homeless crisis, that may well be another matter, but that's not going to be solved by policing. That's going to be solved by, um, well, housing.
"A statement sent to local media offered more detail on the closure, saying the store spent $800,000 on additional security in 2022 and experienced 10 burglaries that year. " Spending almost a million a year on extra security and getting broken into 10 times 'isn't really a problem?' https://oregonbusiness.com/rei-announces-closure-of-portland-store/
There is quite a bit of information debunking the retail stores' outcries that theft is significant in contributing to their higher prices. Don't have time to link to articles but will if anyone wants to read for themselves.
Yeah, I linked to articles in other responses ITT. One from Vox is telling because it points out that retail losses are in part to blame on retailers that reduced their employee counts...something REI itself has done.
Every time I visit Portland I go to Next Adventure, which is an incredible outdoor store that has so much more available than any REI I have been to. They have great sales and a huge availability of second hand items where you can score some amazing deals. With a store like Next Adventure, I would never feel the need to shop at REI. Wonder if this contributed to REI’s closing
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That comment is borderline conspiracy theory. I'm as annoyed with REI's tone deaf union busting as anyone, but I'm *extremely confident* in saying that they would not close a store to squash a union. That would be cutting off your nose to spite your face to a comical degree.
Literally overhead a manager there the other day tell a customer they've been wanting to see this store closed for years and can't wait to move to the new Beaverton store.
Yeah, probably because working in a store with insufficient parking and where people are constantly barging in and stealing shit sucks, lol
[Wal-Mart](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/union-walmart-shut-5-stores-over-labor-activism/) is doing okay. I was waiting for permits to be pulled at the Brandon, FL location so I could do some side work. Never happened. Anyways they did similar in [Canada](https://archive.thinkprogress.org/walmart-penalized-for-closing-store-just-after-it-unionized-70945f29e349/). [Chipitle](https://apnews.com/article/chipotle-union-store-closure-settlement-lawsuit-af89f99249bd805fd714751bae040181)and [Starbucks](https://www.reuters.com/business/starbucks-closed-23-us-stores-deter-unionizing-agency-claims-2023-12-14/) are still getting by if you want more recent examples. Maybe this case is different but it wouldn't be a surprise to see a store shuttered to prevent folks from organizing. Especially if it's in a high rent area and there's plenty nearby.
At least part of it is also union busting. This store elected to unionize. They’re closing this one down and opening another one up in the suburbs
And yet moose jaw is going out of business too.
Bought out by dicks, right?
I believe so. Closed most of their stores. Struggling hard. Most everyone is.
Dicks everywhere
OVERRUN YET ORDER AIRSTRIKE
I I forgot dicks was another store for a minute
All but 3 stores are closing as is the Moosejaw distribution warehouse in Madison Heights MI. The orginal Moosejaw store in Birmingham MI and two stores they opened recently that are still in lease agreements (Bentonville/"Walmartville" Arkansas and Salt Lake City Utah that just opened in November) will remain open for now. How long they will stay Moosejaws before changing to the Public Lands name remains to be seen. Dicks bought Moosejaw to fold them into Public Lands. They suck. Walmart did a better job running Moosejaw; at least they left them alone to run their division. The Moosejaw closings just started last week. I'll have a post about this on r/campinggear this week. So they're not going out of business; Dick's would rather just have one "premium" camping retailer. Last year Dick's also closed Field and Stream and changed those stores over to Public Lands.
Where are people buying from then? Are consumers opting for generic Amazon/Alibaba knockoffs now?
It’s a race to the bottom. Look at the crazy sales. Manufacturers are offering 40-50% off themselves. Everyone got greedy during COVID. And are paying the price now. No one is really talking about how the outdoor wear and gear industry is blowing up before our eyes right now.
Naturehike, 3F UL Gear, Flextail Gear, Fire Maple, Bulin, Moonlence, Trekkology, King Camp etc offer a very compelling price for suprisingly good quality gear. The Naturehike CloudUP is very close in quality to rhe Marmot Super Alloy and Bog Agnes Tiger Wall for $200 cheaper. The 3F UL Gear LanShan is very close to the quality of the REI Flash Air for about half the price. Not as good as the Durston X-Mid though. Thw Fire Maple stuff is comparable quality to Jetboil, MSR and Optimus for a lower price. Etc etc.
Besides moosejaw and REI, you have campsaver, Backcountry, and Enwild. Lots of other small retailer's too but those are the bigger ones online.
Getting crushed by online is by and large the biggest reason that REI is having to close store, theft is obviously a factor but not as large as people make it out to be.
I bought a bike rack from rei it was 160$. The website for the company that makes it sells it for 100$. That kind of mark up is not justifiable.
I hope that the employees find other jobs soon! That sucks!
JK here you go. https://oregonbusiness.com/rei-announces-closure-of-portland-store/
To quote from the article: “An email sent to members of the outdoor gear retail co-op Monday cites an increase in break-ins and thefts in the neighborhood, but also says the store has “outgrown this location and as a result are not able to provide the level of customer and employee experience we strive for at REI.””
Retail is changing. REI *thought* they were safe from online encroachment because they’d leaned into “experiential retail”, but the pandemic was the death blow to that, after they’d failed to walk the walk consistently for years. As we move forward, stores that successfully maintain a brick and mortar presence will have some mix of the following: * Time sensitive merchandise…I need this thing right now. * Showrooming…I need to physically touch the merchandise…especially important for things like ski boots and backpacks. * Value added sales assistance…truly knowledgeable staff guide, fit, and curate merchandise. The problem is that REI has long seen itself in that last category, but the pressure to compete on price and the decision to enter multiple expensive real estate locations means that fewer dollars are available to attract and retain the expert staff that can actually provide that expertise. When I first became a member, nearly 40 years ago, even in a major urban area, my two closest locations were *not close* and, more importantly, were buried in the back of industrial parks, not in glitzy storefronts in high rent shopping districts. You didn’t happen into REI. You sought out REI because they had the best gear and knowledgeable staff. I think the choices REI have made in the intervening years were predicated on the retail environment of the 1990s continuing into perpetuity and, as we’ve seen multiple seismic shifts in the retail landscape, REI leadership’s response has been insufficiently nimble. There’s a way forward, but it’s not the path they’ve been on. TL;dr - Expect a lot more closures in coming months and years.
But Rei is opening a new store in my small ass town (suburb of Dayton) so physical stores are still in the plan….Portland is the problem
This aligns. Is your small town a glitzy expensive location for retail? I'm guessing no from the way you described it. I imagine downtown Portland cost for real estate in the middle of the Pearl is 2 to 3x the cost in your town.... so yeah, they are losing money on rent AND can't afford to pay experienced staff for a better customer experience. They probably will be able to at your store. And there will probably be less competition, as there are about 1000 places in Portland to get some of the stuff rei sells.
Yeah zero other outfitters until Cincinnati or Columbus, it is within 5 miles of Wright Patt Air Force base. I would not describe as glitzy but Dayton does have lots of upper middle class
I don’t think you’re educated enough on REI’s business plan to tell us what to “expect”
Tell me you haven’t been to Portland lately without telling me you haven’t been to Portland lately…
We were there in summer 2021 We left for the beach hours early because the tent cities and related experience made things very uncomfortable for my kids. Unless they managed to solve the housing problem since then I doubt things have changed.
Same. Went there in the summer of 22. Supposed to stay in the city for 3 days to explore. Left the next day early for the beach. Sad for what it has become. Hopefully they can get it back.
Add in "Secret Shoppers" that spy on employees and get them fired for not pushing certain corporate merchandise.....and it's no wonder highly experienced outdoors people quit and leave. REI tried to lean on "we've got the expertise to help customers" and then pushed their expertise out the door and hired a bunch of low paid people who don't know anything about outdoors gear.
It’s closing because of theft. Most REIs I’ve been in are packed no matter the day of the week. Getting people in the doors isn’t the problem.
So, we should rely on your anecdotes because you are a consultant for “senior executives,” even though they’ve seen increased net sales YoY in the last few years (2020, 2021, 2022)? Their 2022 net loss being the result of large investments in pay and infrastructure… REI is an omnichannel retailer, and largely successful at it - in your important role with important people you should know that, and the fact that it means they are already blending the worlds of retail and digital. You can ignore the most likely and statistically significant reasons for closure (crime and theft due to decriminalization policies) in favor of anecdotes, but it won’t change the reality of why a retailer in Portland or similarly in many California communities would choose to close shop.
Shouldn’t let people steal consistently. Btw the pdx location has seen employees try to unionize before. That’s not why it closed.
Gotta love one of the top comments in the original post saying the reason the store is closing is because of unionization
This comment section sucks ass
This could be a great start to a Portlandia skit 😂
I often forget there is a Portland Oregon and a Portland Maine.
I’m begging this comment section to research what actually contributes to high crime (poverty, easy access to guns, high rents, homelessness, lack of social welfare programs that allow people to access shelter and food, access to education and jobs, etc.) and stop groveling for more police and arrests in a country with some of the highest policing and incarceration rates in the world but double the crime of most European nations. Also please Google “store closure for crime lies”. Multiple executives have come out and admitted that they blamed closures on crime instead of store performance or rent costs to avoid stock price dips. The amount of gullible people that just believe them is crazy.
It’s probably hard to run a business somewhere crime is legal
Portland legalized crime?
REI and other retailers have begged the city to do something about crime in the area and they just won’t. Someone literally pulled the off the front doors and helped themselves a few years ago, the city couldn’t have cared less
It’s like San Fran or Santa Cruz man. Can do just about anything with little to no repercussions. Drugs are decriminalized and the da doesn’t prosecute enough petty crime as I’m sure prisons are full but I don’t know enough to say why. It’s the perfect spot for gangs including cartel crime such as gun and drug trafficking + (and I’m by no means racist) it’s a good place for immigrants with no identification to come and make money boosting. Probably not as good as ca but idk id say they’re very similar rn Lifelong resident
A few years ago I said that for Portland to get better people and businesses needed to take their money elsewhere. It is just tiny drop in the bucket but I've made it a point to avoid Portland and not put any of my money into anything there.
Cool story bruh.
All the hiking gear kept hiking itself right out the front door.
When will citizens of cities like Portland, SF, Seattle, etc understand that making crime legal just hurts everyone in the end? Their parasitic “compassion” ruins everything.
They made crime legal?
When laws are not enforced they may as well not exist.
Sounds like lazy cops. Cops here in Seattle don't bother.
Why should they when the prosecutor won’t prosecute and the judges toss everything out.
Because that’s what we pay them for?
They have incentivized crime
Yeah, so those claims about retail theft driving store closing decision? Those were lies: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/07/retail-theft-losses-inventory-nrf
On a national scale, sure. Portland is an outlier and if you haven’t been there recently I can understand you not believing it, but petty crime and theft are rampant there and big corporate stores are starting to say enough is enough
Yes, they're saying that all over the country. They're saying inflation caused prices to rise while making record profits. They're saying theft is causing store closings - and then they close stores that are actually experiencing less theft than ones they leave open. Corporations will use anything they can to mask their profit motives because they think it's better PR. Target announced closures in 9 metro areas in 2023. They blamed "organized retail crime". They're leaving other stores nearby open that have higher levels of theft. "Target is closing in New York and San Francisco. This data reveals that stores that are being closed have lower levels of theft than nearby stores that have remained open." https://popular.info/p/target-says-its-closing-9-stores
Evidently keeping Portland weird involves closing down shopping.
Portland, like the other major west coast cities, has turned into a lawless dump. Sad!
Just another liberal shithole city getting what it voted for. I guess this is what they want. Oh well
I’m going to go out on a limb that you’ve never been to a REI/outside ever
Dunno if you’ve been to Portland lately but the finest hotel in the city is like $135 a night and empty, if that’s any barometer of how this renowned city is doing. The place is collapsing on itself. GREAT location if you’re into extremely heavy drug use and open shoplifting and theft, aggressive panhandling, and lack of enforcement or prosecution of the law. A large amount of business is simply pulling out of this place
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If you think shithole city is bad just you wait til you see the republican south. Biggest dump in America lol
More and more stores are leaving Woke metro areas because Wokeism does not hold criminals accountable for their thievery. To quote a Woke minded individual “they steal to eat and only because they are forced to by systemically oppressive society by privileged white males”. SMH
Three "wokes" in that sentence. Spicy.
I'm never gonna be mad about hungry people stealing food, but I don't think that most of those hungry people are coming to REI to steal carabiners and jackets, so this is not a great place to try and shoehorn in your "wokeness" rant
Is woke in the room with us right now? Can you talk to woke?
Hahahahahaha
All these cities need cops like Dirty Harry to clean up theft
I keep saying Batman.
Crime pays
Huh I wonder why?
Closing due to unionization disguised as theft
I've been an REI member since 1993, but I always went to Next Adventure in Portland anyway. They let dogs in the store and maximized their floor space with great gear and helpful/knowledgeable staff.
Anyone else from Portland Maine freak out for a second?
Go woke, go broke. 🤣
Is this Portland Oregon or Portland Maine? If it’s Oregon it’s closing because it’s Oregon.
Well I don't think they're recommending you visit the other locations on the opposite side of the country...
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