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Target to shut 9 stores across 4 US states amid rising retail crime

The move, effective Oct. 21, will see the closing of one store in New York City, two in Seattle, three locations across the San Francisco and Oakland markets and three in Portland.

Target said on Tuesday it would close nine stores across four U.S. states, including California, citing that theft and organized retail crime was threatening the security of the retailer’s employees and customers.

The move, effective Oct. 21, will see the closing of one store in New York City, two in Seattle, three locations across the San Francisco and Oakland markets and three in Portland.

Despite heavy investments in security, the company continued to face “fundamental challenges” to running the stores safely, the retailer said. It operates nearly 2,000 stores across the United States.

“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,” Target said in a statement.

Theft and retail crime has become an increasingly pressing issue for U.S. retailers, with organized crime rings targeting retail inventories and causing more financial loss to companies.

Source: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/world/target-to-shut-9-stores-across-4-us-states-amid-rising-retail-crime-11434871.html

Control grocery prices or face new taxes, Canada’s Trudeau warns chains

Canadian leader says profits should not be made ‘on the backs of people who are struggling to feed their families’.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced measures to control the rising costs of living [File: Blair Gable/Reuters]

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has warned grocery chains that they could be hit with new taxes if they do not take steps to control rising food prices.

Trudeau said the heads of the five largest supermarket chains, including Walmart and Costco, would be asked to come up with a plan to address rising prices before Thanksgiving.

Trudeau, who is facing questions about his leadership amid sagging public approval, also announced that sales tax would be waived for the construction of new rental apartments as part of measures to address cost-of-living concerns.

“If their plan doesn’t provide real relief for the middle class and people working hard to join it, then we will take further action, and we are not ruling anything out including tax measures,” Trudeau said at the end of a caucus retreat in London, Ontario, on Thursday.

Trudeau said it did not make sense that supermarket chains were making record profits at a time when many Canadians were struggling to make ends meet.

“Large grocery chains are making record profits,” he said. “Those profits should not be made on the backs of people who are struggling to feed their families.”

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2023/9/15/control-grocery-prices-or-face-new-taxes-canadas-trudeau-warns-chains

RIP Beverly Hills: Video shows high-end retail stores now shuttered amid LA crime wave

Beverly Hills is becoming a ghost town, as high-end retail stores exit the once-luxurious Los Angeles city amid a spate of high-end smash and grab gang robbberies.

Videos posted on Tik ToK by self-proclaimed “Nostalgic Angelino” cody90210 show off more than a dozen Beverly Hills retailers and restaurants now completely shuttered and not replaced by new businesses, leaving their empty storefronts as a shell of their former glory.

Some of the businesses include luxury staples like Barneys New York and Escada, with the once-popular brands having filed for bankruptcy in recent years.

Other big name stores now lying empty include former locations for Chanel, Rite Aid, Barnes and Noble, Niketown, and restaurants like Chipotle and Starbucks.

The Chanel on N Robertson Blvd, in Beverly Hills, shutdown following two burglaries last year, with the building still shuttered.
@cody90210/Tiktok

The former Escada store on Wilshire Boulevard is also vacant after the company filed for bankruptcy last year.
Google Maps

The barren stores stand in stark contrast with the city’s reputation for glamor and opulence, and as a place where celebrities, fashionistas and business moguls are regularly photographed by paparazzi.

Despite the many shuttered stores, other businesses have managed to stave off ruin, with places like Saks Fifth, Hermes and Gucci earning a spot in the TikTok account’s “Best of Beverly Hills” compilation.

Stores that survived the economic woes during the pandemic, however, are now contending with a surge in crime that has forced Southern California law enforcement agencies to create a task force solely focused on retail crime.

Source:https://nypost.com/2023/09/05/beverly-hills-boutiques-and-high-end-stores-shuttered/