Walmart, Target, Best Buy Closing Stores Due to Crime

(Daily Mail) Major retailers in the US have been forced to shut down stores due to millions of dollars in losses as rampant theft plagues big box stores across the country. 

This week, Walmart announced it will shut down four of its stores in Chicago just weeks after America’s biggest employer shuttered its only stores in Portland. 

It comes as shoplifting reaches alarming levels and other large retailers, including Target, Macy’s and Best Buy,  are now making good on threats to shutter outlets if petty crime was not lowered. 

In 2021 retailers lost a combined $94.5billion to shrink, a term used to describe theft and other types of inventory loss. And organized retail crime incidents soared by 26.5 per cent in the same year, according to the 2022 National Retail Security Survey.

Along with brazen daylight thefts, self-checkouts have also made it easier for people to walk out without paying for items. 

Progressive district attorneys in cities like Chicago, New York, Portland and California have also been blamed for effectively legalizing shoplifing with either not prosecuting thefts under $950, or letting criminals off with a slap on the wrist. 

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Walmart decided to shut 17 of its stores across nine states after CEO Doug McMillon warned in December that theft was the highest it’s ever been around the country and if it did not slow down, stores would have to close. 

And the company announced on Tuesday it would be shutting half its Chicago stores, mostly located on the crime-ridden city’s south and west sides, because they are losing tens of millions each year.