Nike closes landmark Portland Factory Store due to theft

[mspart]

https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/nike-closes-beloved-portland-store-due-to-crime/458921

By Madeline Garfinkle • Sep 12, 2023

Key Takeaways

•  
  After first closing in October, seemingly temporarily, Nike announced its factory store in Portland, Oregon will permanently close.
•  
  Other businesses in Portland and across the country have also been affected by theft.

As theft and crime continue to wreak havoc in the retail industry, another big-name company has announced it will close a once-cherished location.

Last week, Nike announced that it would permanently close its factory store in Portland, Oregon, due to ongoing theft. The Portland factory store first closed in October 2022, with no official statement aside from a message on the store's website stating "closed for the next 7 days." However, the store has remained closed and now, the company said it will shut its doors permanently.

"Nike's commitment to supporting and uplifting Portland's North and Northeast community is unwavering," Nike said in a statement to The Street. "We are reimagining Nike's retail space, permanently closing our current location at 2650 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and considering future locations as part of this community's long-term revitalization plan."

The store, which had been open since 1984, had a dedicated following among locals.

...Rampant theft had been an ongoing problem for the athletic brand's Portland store and, in 2022, a KGW-TV analysis found that Nike's factory store had the second-highest rate of reported shoplifting incidents since 2019, behind Target.

In addition to the Nike factory store, several other businesses in Portland have been affected by theft. In March, Walmart announced that it would be closing its remaining two stores in Portland and, in April, REI said it would close its storefront in the city's Pearl District by next year.

"Last year, REI Portland had its highest number of break-ins and thefts in two decades, despite actions to provide extra security," the company said in an email to REI members in April. "In recent years, Portland has been dealing with increased crime in our neighborhood and beyond."

I remember some on here were arguing that theft is not a big problem.   Nothing to see here.   The people of Portland disagree and have lost their beloved Nike Factory store, all Walmarts, and REI is going away - All due to theft and rising crime in the area.    Lots of smaller businesses have also been similarly run out of business in the area.  

There is a fix for this folks.   Enforce the law and prosecute.   Period!!   No more tolerance of theft. 

mspart

 

[Ohio Elite]

Seems like a nice place...

[Offthemat]

That’s just racist.  Racist, racist, racist.  

[ionel]

26 minutes ago, mspart said:

Last week, Nike announced that it would permanently close its factory store in Portland, Oregon, due to ongoing theft. .

"Last year, REI Portland had its highest number of break-ins and thefts in two decades, despite actions to provide extra security," the company said in an email to REI members in April. "In recent years, Portland has been dealing with increased crime in our neighborhood and beyond."

 

Picked up a couple nice shirts ~month ago at the Nike Company Store in Beaverton and REI store in Portland.  No one told me paying was optional. 

[BobDole]

There is very little theft at Amazon, the online model will continue to grow more and more. Companies will blame theft, lack of workers, and whatever else they want to blame to close down the brick and mortar stores.

[mspart]

35 minutes ago, ionel said:

Picked up a couple nice shirts ~month ago at the Nike Company Store in Beaverton and REI store in Portland.  No one told me paying was optional. 

You are just supposed to know.   Did the cashiers look at you like you were crazy!!

My son recently worked for Target as a security guy.   He was told not to engage anyone.   So he was able to see lots of theft going on.  

mspart

[ionel]

1 minute ago, mspart said:

You are just supposed to know.   Did the cashiers look at you like you were crazy!!

hmm ... yeah lots of folks do that so ...

[mspart]

2 minutes ago, BobDole said:

There is very little theft at Amazon, the online model will continue to grow more and more. Companies will blame theft, lack of workers, and whatever else they want to blame to close down the brick and mortar stores.

This is exactly what I was saying in the first post.   There are people who deny the obvious.   In the article I posted, they cite theft and crime as the reason Nike and REI are closing.   Yet, it must be for some other reason.   It couldn't be rampant shoplifting, no that couldn't be it.  Even though they said it.   It is all just a conspiracy. 

mspart

[BobDole]

1 minute ago, mspart said:

This is exactly what I was saying in the first post.   There are people who deny the obvious.   In the article I posted, they cite theft and crime as the reason Nike and REI are closing.   Yet, it must be for some other reason.   It couldn't be rampant shoplifting, no that couldn't be it.  Even though they said it.   It is all just a conspiracy. 

mspart

Dear Mr. Copy and Paste,
You only blame theft and lack of enforcement the store closing. 

Companies are shifting to more and more online. It's easier and more profitable. They will find the reasons to close the brick and mortar stores. Rent, theft, lack of workers, etc. will all be used as reasons to close a store. Having 10 warehouses to ship from is way easier to manage than 1000 stores across the country. It's a simple equation that if you give them a reason they'll use it to shut down. 

I don't blame them for trying to be more profitable, that's the goal of a business.

[Jason Bryant]

To Bob’s point, I’ve got a Nike factory outlet and a larger Nike store in the metro here - one at the outlets in Albertville and the other at the Mall of America - I have about 25 pairs of Air Force 1s, Dunks and Air Jordans … every single one of them bought via the Nike or Nike SNKRS app … the only theft those customers worry about is porch pirates and a rogue FedEx/UPS driver.

[Plasmodium]

Maybe that mutha f##$$# bought the OSU wrestling room and moved his pointless store to Corvallis.

[mspart]

42 minutes ago, BobDole said:

Dear Mr. Copy and Paste,
You only blame theft and lack of enforcement the store closing. 

 

Dear Mr Dead guy and copy and paste guy,

I didn't say that.   Nike and REI said that.  

You are not wrong regarding centralized warehousing having cost advantages.   So why are the Nike stores in outlet malls not closing down?   Why is the REI in Redmond and Issaquah WA still in business?   Why does Costco still have brick and mortar stores all over the world?   If what you say is true, these would all have been quick to be shutting down as in Sears and KMart.    But that is not what we see is it?   Please explain that based on your hypothesis.  

So what you are saying is that they will pick and choose which stores they will close and which ones they will leave open as an effort to centralize their warehousing.   Like that makes any sense.  

Keep your eyes closed and believe what you want to believe.   I will keep my eyes open and believe what they tell me.  

mspart

Edited September 13, 2023 by mspart

[Husker_Du]

wait, so at the exact moment in history when there is rampant retail theft and videos of daily lootings it's big bad corporate america using those reasons as just an excuse? 

amazing. 

[Plasmodium]

2 hours ago, Husker_Du said:

wait, so at the exact moment in history when there is rampant retail theft and videos of daily lootings it's big bad corporate america using those reasons as just an excuse? 

amazing. 

Crazy world we live in.

[Gus]

@BobDole what’s with the constant ragging on @mspart ? He’s a beloved poster and seemingly one of the better dudes on these forums. Merely because you two do not see eye to eye politically?

[Ban Basketball]

4 minutes ago, Gus said:

@BobDole what’s with the constant ragging on @mspart ? He’s a beloved poster and seemingly one of the better dudes on these forums. Merely because you two do not see eye to eye politically?

Man,  are YOU going to get ripped a new one!

Let's chalk it up to a twenty plus year ax to grind. 

 I get cancelled...NOW!

Edited September 14, 2023 by Ban Basketball

[GreatWhiteNorth]

2 hours ago, Gus said:

@BobDole what’s with the constant ragging on @mspart ? He’s a beloved poster and seemingly one of the better dudes on these forums. Merely because you two do not see eye to eye politically?

Mspart is quite an able player when it comes to banter. Doesn't seem like either is being unfair. Seems fine.

Interesting comments on "Beloved poster", "better dudes", etc. I don't disagree.

Then again, any such lists would depend on perspective. I doubt we'd all agree on the members of those lists.

Nor should we. Pretending that we can separate the 'good guys' from the 'bad guys' here is, at best, silly.

[ionel]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-10/retail-ceos-signal-rising-alarm-as-theft-eats-away-billions-in-sales#xj4y7vzkg

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/08/this-is-how-much-money-retailers-are-losing-to-shrink-retail-theft.html

[mspart]

ionel - Those are right wing crazy websites saying that.   Ha ha!!

mspart

[ionel]

14 minutes ago, mspart said:

ionel - Those are right wing crazy websites saying that.   Ha ha!!

mspart

everything is right wing and its a crazy world so ... 

[GreatWhiteNorth]

11 hours ago, ionel said:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-10/retail-ceos-signal-rising-alarm-as-theft-eats-away-billions-in-sales#xj4y7vzkg

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/08/this-is-how-much-money-retailers-are-losing-to-shrink-retail-theft.html

Retail theft is a HUGE problem.

What's crazy is that some try to represent this as a sort of weird R vs D topic... when it really isn't.

It's a giant problem for all, regardless of politics. It's like car-jacking - these are really big, really bad problems. That we need to get together to solve instead of wasting our efforts bickering over laying blame.

 

I don't see anything constructive, at all, in trying to make this an R vs D topic. I would think you'd all feel the same.

 

[MPhillips]

On 9/13/2023 at 10:40 PM, Gus said:

@BobDole what’s with the constant ragging on @mspart ?

Copy and Pastepart is fine @Gus.  He's a willing player and rarely (if ever) loses his shite. 

I probably worry more about, 'Shillie and the hand jive gang.'

[Offthemat]

More stores closing in familiar locations for typical reasons.  
 

• Target said it will close nine stores across the country after struggling with crime and safety threats at those locations.
• Target, which has nearly 2,000 stores in the U.S., has been outspoken about organized retail crime at its stores and said theft has driven higher levels of shrink.
• Target is closing locations in New York City, Seattle, San Francisco and Portland.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/09/26/target-says-it-will-close-nine-stores-citing-violence-and-theft-.html

[Husker_Du]

they aren't closing b/c of theft. i know that's what they, themselves said. but it just can't be true.

and there are videos daily of looting and robbing, but it has to be something else. it just has to be. 

[GreatWhiteNorth]

6 hours ago, Husker_Du said:

they aren't closing b/c of theft. i know that's what they, themselves said. but it just can't be true.

and there are videos daily of looting and robbing, but it has to be something else. it just has to be. 

It's theft.

As much as you may want to make this a political argument in some way shape or form for more arguing.

No R vs D here. Just theft.