Another Theft-Plagued Walmart Closing Its Doors
15 Walmart locations in 11 states slated for closure in 2023

Walmart closing an Everett store that locals say was plagued by theft

Walmart is closing an underperforming store in Everett that some neighboring businesses say has been plagued by theft.

Walmart said in a statement Friday the store is being shut down after the retailer determined it "hasn't performed as well as we hoped." The retailer said the store's 198 employees can transfer to other Walmart locations, including a Supercenter at 1605 S.E. Everett Mall Way and five other stores in Snohomish County. Walmart has 65 locations in Washington.

But several businesses near the closing store said shoplifting has become a serious problem, including at Walmart.

"From what I've heard from Walmart staff, to me, that's the cause of the closure," said Dennis Matheson, owner of nearby Chuck's Chevron Services Center. "You know, when you go over [to Walmart] and the socks are under lock and key, it's very evident" theft is a problem.

Opened in 2006, the Highway 99 Walmart is one of 15 Walmarts in 11 states Walmart reportedly slated for closure in 2023, according to Business Insider.

Walmart said "there is no single cause" for any store closure and that decisions are based on "current and projected financial performance, location, population, customer needs, and the proximity of other nearby stores."

But top company officials have also acknowledged that shoplifting is a rising problem for Walmart nationally and could lead to closures if left unchecked.

Theft and other property crime in Everett in 2022 was up 17% from 2019, but down by 17% from 2016, according to estimates presented in August to the City Council by police Chief Dan Templeman. In Seattle, larceny and theft in 2022 were up 10% from 2019 and up 5% from 2016, according to Seattle Police Department data. seattletimes.com


Minnesota Businesses & Legislators Put Forward ORC Legislation
Legislation brought forward concerning organized retail crime in Minnesota
A growing concern about organized retail crime was addressed in a news conference on Monday afternoon held by the Minnesota Retailers Association.

Various partners and legislators, including Senator Ron Latz, Representative Zack Stephenson, and Bruce Nustad, president of the Minnesota Retailers Association, talked about the proposed legislation at the Minnesota State Capitol.

Nustad commented on the nature of the bills proposed by Sen. Latz and Rep. Stephenson.

"They are bills to define organized retail crime in statute. 34 other states actually define organized retail crime, and quite frankly, the benefit of that is to tell those career criminals that their business is not welcome here."

Authorities say organized retail crime is separate from ordinary shoplifting and involves people working together in crime rings and stealing large amounts of merchandise from retail stores in Minnesota and across the country.

Officials add many of these stolen items then get converted into cash through a fencing operation. The suggested legislation would differentiate this operation from petty theft and help loss prevention professionals, law enforcement, and prosecutors address this issue. kstp.com

   RELATED: Legislators, business owners address growing retail crime


U.S. Mass Shooting Epidemic Back in the News
Guns kill 120 Americans every day - Over 43K per year

America's unique, enduring gun problem, explained

The factors that lead to tragedies like Covenant School are deeply ingrained in US politics, culture, and law.

A shooter armed with two assault-style rifles and a handgun killed at least three children and three adults Monday at Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, before police shot and killed her.

The Covenant School incident is America's 129th such mass shooting - an incident during which four or more people are shot, as defined by the Gun Violence Archive - since the beginning of 2023. It follows mass shootings at Michigan State University, two mushroom farms in Half Moon Bay, California, and at a ballroom dance studio in Monterey Park, California.

These shootings come in the wake of numerous others last year including at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia; at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado; on a school bus allegedly targeting members of the University of Virginia football team; a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois; at a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma; at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas; and at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

No other high-income country has suffered such a high death toll from gun violence. Every day, 120 Americans die at the end of a gun, including suicides and homicides, an average of 43,475 per year. Since 2009, there has been an annual average of 19 shootings in which at least four people are killed. The US gun homicide rate is as much as 26 times that of other high-income countries; its gun suicide rate is nearly 12 times higher.

What is unique is the US's expansive view of civilian gun ownership, ingrained in politics, in culture, and in the law since the nation's founding, and a national political process that has so far proved incapable of changing that norm.

Last year, Congress reached a deal on limited gun reforms for the first time in nearly 30 years. But the recent shootings underscore why narrow reform won't stop mass shootings - and just how embedded gun violence is in the US. vox.com

Click here for more gun violence data

Many Americans Fearful of Shopping Amid Shooting Surge
How Gun Violence and Mass Shootings Have Changed How Americans Live

"I'm a veteran and have served in combat. I felt safer in combat than I do going to the grocery store."

Michelle Allen is still learning how to cope nearly three years after her only child, Nicholas Isaac, 23, was shot and killed inside a Brooklyn bike store. Her story is one of more than 600 responses we received after asking Times readers whether the threat of gun violence has affected their mental state or the way they lead their lives.

Some readers said the sheer number of shootings in America has left them numb or resigned. A more sizable group described feeling frustrated, angry and helpless. Some said they now avoid crowded events and public transportation, scan public venues for nearby escape routes or stay at home more often. A handful said they had moved to different cities or even to another country to try to escape the threat.

In 2021, homicides and suicides involving guns reached their highest rates in three decades. Mass shootings, though only a fraction of the number of gun murders nationwide, are also on the rise. And guns are now the No. 1 cause of death among American children and teens.

One respondent to the New York Times wrote, "I'm a veteran and have served in combat. I felt safer in combat than I do going to the grocery store."

"I am very conscious in stores," another respondent said.

"I pray for safety for my sons, my family and myself. I can only pray they come home at night and are not victims of a shooter at the grocery store, in their school classroom, driving to the movies, sitting in the car at the stoplight," another respondent said. nytimes.com


'Aren't you guys tired of this?'
Woman who survived Highland Park shooting makes plea in Nashville
Following a news conference with Metro Nashville Police, mother Ashbey Beasley turned to reporters and asked "aren't you guys tired of covering this?," saying she was on a family vacation in the area when she learned of the shooting.

Boise, ID: Violent and property crimes down in 2022

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NYPD counterterrorism chief to retire months after predecessor exited

The Rise of Robots in Retail Continues
For security, safety, inventory tracking and more

Lowe's, BJ's, Ikea, and other retailers are using robots to clean up, track inventory, and police parking lots - taking the burden off human workers

Autonomous robots have been increasingly popular in the retail industry.

BJ's Wholesale Club plans to deploy robots, named "Tally," designed by robotics company Simbe, to check store shelves multiple times per day to ensure products are in-stock and in the appropriate sections.

Lowe's recently revealed that it's experimenting with using autonomous robots to patrol parking lots to enhance safety. Lowe's began testing 400-pound Knightscope K5 robots in Philadelphia in February and plans to utilize them in Washington state, North Carolina, California, and Washington D.C.

In Europe, Ikea has dispatched 100 autonomous drones to track inventory and "improve the wellbeing" of coworkers. The Swedish furniture giant has placed the drones inside stores in Belgium. They go to work during off-hours to improve stock accuracy, the retailer said.

Lowe's, BJ's, and Ikea are only the latest of a large swathe of retailers to implement these types of technologies. Walmart, for example, rolled out a robot called "Alphabot" to help with grocery picking and packing in a store in New Hampshire and plans to expand to other stores.

Automated grocery systems like Alphabot are estimated to pick and pack orders as much as 10 times faster than a human. The company also tried aisle-roaming, inventory-scanning robots for about three years, but stopped using them in 2020.  businessinsider.com


Remote Work's Impact on Big Cities
Will Working from Home Kill the City?

The work-from-home revolution is hurting the downtown economy of many cities, lowering the tax revenues they collect.

Intel recently announced it was selling its sprawling, four-building campus in San Jose - home to 8,700 employees. It's part of a larger phenomenon documented in September in a paper, "Work from Home and the Office Real Estate Apocalypse," published by the venerable research nonprofit, the National Bureau of Economic Research (or NBER).

The loss has wide repercussions, starting with how the work-from-home revolution hurts other parts of the downtown economy, ultimately lowering the tax revenues that cities collect. As recently as last August, restaurant visits had plummeted from pre-pandemic levels in San Francisco and New York - down 41% and 37%, respectively - according to data from the online reservation service OpenTable (cited in NBER's paper).

In January the Washington Post's editorial board even devised a catchy name for the larger problem: "dead downtowns... office workers are still missing in action."

They pointed out that office occupancy was down more than 40% from its 2019 levels in New York, Los Angeles and D.C. A December report from the San Francisco Standard also noted that San Francisco's budget projections for the next six years included over $1 billion in lost commercial property tax revenue. "The losses have largely been blamed on private companies' remote work policies."

"But the pain doesn't end there. As noted by city economist Ted Egan at the committee meeting, office space industries contribute about 72% of San Francisco's GDP meaning 'if anything happens to the office sector, it ripples throughout virtually every aspect of the city's economy.'" thenewstack.io


The Union Battle is Still Raging

Union Retaliation Firings?
Apple illegally fired five labor activists, union says

The workers, who were disciplined and fired for attendance-related issues, believe they were let go because of their union organizing

Apple fired five union organizers in Kansas City, Mo., in retaliation for union activity, the Communications Workers of America alleged in charges filed with the National Labor Relations Board on Monday.

The terminated workers, who all were active organizers in a nascent union drive at the Apple store at Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, said they were disciplined and fired for tardiness, calling out of work, and improperly filling out attendance-related forms.

The tech giant is one of a handful of high-profile companies, such as Amazon and Starbucks, grappling with a wave of union organizing. Apple retail workers at stores in Towson, Md., and Oklahoma City became the first in the company's history to unionize last year, as other campaigns have faced setbacks. Apple has held regular meetings at its stores to discuss the pitfalls of joining unions. But the Communications Workers of America, which has a national campaign to organize Apple workers, said the charges are the first the union has filed against Apple for unlawfully terminating retail workers for union activity.

Union organizers say companies often use attendance policies to weed out workers who are supportive of unions. Starbucks union organizers have also been reportedly fired over the past year for attendance issues, including arriving to work a few minutes late. Starbucks has previously said that workers are terminated after violating company policies and not in retaliation for engaging in union activity. washingtonpost.com


Unionizing Store Closure
Chipotle agrees to pay ex-employees after closing store that tried to unionize
Chipotle Mexican Grill will pay a total $240,000 in salary and back pay to the former employees of an Augusta, Maine, restaurant that the company shuttered after the workers tried to unionize. The settlement payouts - which are based on pay rates, average hours and seniority - will range between $5,800 to more than $21,000 to each of the affected employees.

"This isn't just a victory for Chipotle United. It's a win for food service workers across the country," said Brandi McNease, a former Augusta Chipotle employee and lead organizer of the Chipotle United union. "It sends a message to corporations that shutting down a store and blackballing workers didn't work for Chipotle and it won't work for them either."

Chipotle, which did not admit to wrongdoing as part of the settlement, has denied the allegation that union-busting was behind its decision to shutter the Augusta location last July. At that time, the company said the closure was because of difficulty finding staff. But the National Labor Relations Board, which oversees labor relations at most US businesses, filed a complaint in November alleging that the closing was an effort to defeat the union organizing.

"We settled this case not because we did anything wrong, but because the time, energy and cost to litigate would have far outweighed the settlement agreement," the chain said in a statement Monday. "We respect our employees' rights to organize under the National Labor Relations Act." cnn.com


Grocery Industry Closely Watching Kroger/Albertsons Merger
Union leader says Giant Eagle wary about Kroger/Albertsons merger
Kroger, the Ohio-based company that from time to time surfaces as a possible suitor for Giant Eagle, announced in October that it plans to buy Idaho-based Albertsons Companies Inc. for nearly $25 billion.

Wendell Young, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776, which represents workers at Giant Eagle, says the grocer is closely watching the Kroger/Albertsons merger even though Kroger has been out of the Pittsburgh market for decades. "They're going to be able to acquire products much cheaper. If you're Giant Eagle - whether they admit it or not - they're trying to figure out, 'What are we going to do?'" post-gazette.com


Disney to begin laying off 7,000 employees in multiple stages

Bed Bath & Beyond plans another 1,300 layoffs

Target to close 4 small-format stores this spring

Torrid to open 30 to 40 stores this year