Retail giant Target has announced that it will be closing nine stores in Democrat-run municipalities, citing uncontrolled organized retail theft that threatened employees and undermined profits.
The news comes as Target has posted dramatic drops in sales following public boycotts due to the corporation’s recent LGBTQ Pride Month marketing that targeted children and collaborated on products with the designer of a satanist brand, as reported by The Dallas Express.
“At Target, we take the decision to close stores very seriously, and only do so after taking meaningful steps to invest in the guest experience and improve business performance,” a press release explained. “With that said, we have made the difficult decision to close nine Target stores across four states, effective October 21.”
“In this case, we cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests, and contributing to unsustainable business performance.”
“Before making this decision, we invested heavily in strategies to prevent and stop theft and organized retail crime in our stores, such as adding more security team members, using third-party guard services, and implementing theft-deterrent tools across our business,” Target claimed. “Despite our efforts, unfortunately, we continue to face fundamental challenges to operating these stores safely and successfully.”
In New York, Target decided to shutter its store in Harlem. On the other side of the country, two stores will close in Seattle. Three more stores will be shut down in Portland. Finally, the San Francisco/Oakland market will see another three close due to rampant crime.
San Francisco recently saw one of its Whole Foods locations shuttered for the same reason, as The Dallas Express reported.
Each of the Target storefronts slated for closure is located in a municipality whose longtime leftist leadership has moved to defund the police in recent years.
For example, New York City slashed almost $1 billion of the NYPD’s budget in 2020, and the percentage of the city budget allocated to public safety has plummeted over the last two decades. Similarly, San Francisco redirected $120 million away from police and sheriff’s departments in 2020, Seattle reduced its 2021 police budget by 17%, and Portland cut $15 million from its police bureau.
Nevertheless, Target notes that it “will continue to combat theft and organized retail crime by making significant investments to keep our stores safe.”
These include hiring “additional security team members, using third-party guard services, and implementing theft-deterrent tools across our business.”
Additionally, the corporation will lobby the government for the passage of the “Combating Organized Retail Crime Act in Congress, which creates a taskforce of federal agencies to crack down on theft and organized retail crime.”