Target Blames Organized Crime For Closing Doors On Nine Stores

The wave of retail crime sweeping the U.S. claimed nine more stores this week, as Target pulled the plug on a group of high risk locations.

Target
TGT
Corp confirmed that it is to permanently shutter nine stores in cities across four states, as it blamed organized retail crime for making the environment unsafe for both staff and shoppers.

Target, which has repeatedly highlighted the growing problems of organized in-store theft, added that crime levels were also making the stores unviable.

The stores shutting their doors on Oct. 21 include Target’s East Harlem, New York outlet, two stores in Seattle, three in Portland, and three more in San Francisco and Oakland, the latter areas especially impacted by a spate of shoplifting.

The decision comes at a time when many retailers are complaining of a shoplifting epidemic across the U.S., highlighting that stores are being targeted not by opportunistic shoplifters but instead by organized criminals.

Indeed, Target’s announcement Tuesday came on the same day that industry body the National Retail Federation (NRF) released its latest figures on retail theft and as 200 Oakland store owners closed temporarily to raise their concerns.

Dubbed ‘shrink’ by the the industry to describe merchandise that is lost from the supply chain for any reason but largely because of external and internal theft, retailers were down an eye-watering $112.1 billion in 2022, compared with $93.9 billion a year prior.

As a result, the NRF said that the average shrink rate had increased to 1.6% from 1.4% the previous year.

Target Says Enough At Nine Sites

Explaining the reasons for closing its nine outlets next month, Target said in a statement: “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.

“We know that our stores serve an important role in their communities, but we can only be successful if the working and shopping environment is safe for all.”

Target said that before deciding to close the stores it had introduced more security measures after previously warning that it expected to lose $500 million in 2023 from theft, while it pledged to continue to keep the rest of its 150 stores in the markets where it is closing outlets safe and operational.

“Our team continues to face an unacceptable amount of retail theft and organized retail crime,” Target CEO Brian Cornell had said during the company’s most recent earnings call in August of this year.

“Unfortunately, safety incidents associated with theft are moving in the wrong direction. During the first five months of this year, our stores saw a 120% increase in theft incidents involving violence or threats of violence.”

To tackle in-store crime, Target is also partnering with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and has been using technology to analyze organized crime activity, it said.

NRF Raises Industry Concerns

Highlighting mounting concerns from its members, the NRF said that retailers are increasingly concerned about a rise in dangerous and violent crimes, as with the recent cases in California, and are choosing to close up shop in locations deemed too risky.

A host of retailers have shut down stores in troubled San Francisco recently among a city-wide crime wave and widespread drug issues blighting its retail center, and on the same day Target made its announcement, approximately 200 Oakland, Ca. business owners demonstrated after closing their stores for two hours to highlight rising crime issues.

One factor cited for the rise in organized retail crime is reform of the criminal justice laws, designed to reduce custodial sentences.

That appears to have backfired on retailers, as the recent spate of brazen shoplifting events clearly shows.