Walmart last month announced it was closing its two Portland stores, but it’s drawn a fresh round of attention this week as politicos sparred online over the cause.
The retail giant will lay off 580 employees when the stores close March 24, according to regulatory disclosures.
Here are five things to know about the closures.
Why is Walmart closing its Portland stores?
In announcing the closure, Walmart said little more than that the stores hadn’t met its financial expectations.
“There is no single cause for why a store closes,” Lauren Willis, a spokesperson for Walmart, told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “We do a thorough review of how a store performs and weigh many factors before making the difficult decision to close a facility.”
Walmart has also announced store closures this year in Arkansas; Washington, D.C.; Florida; Illinois; New Mexico; and Wisconsin, according to Insider. It’s given no specific reasons for the closures elsewhere, either.
Why is this getting so much attention now?
A fresh round of news reports declared that Walmart is closing all of its Portland stores. And it is, in fact, closing the two within city limits.
The company continues to operate stores in the metro area, including Gresham, Happy Valley, Milwaukie, West Linn and Vancouver.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over the weekend took aim at Portland over the issue, saying the closure is “what happens when cities refuse to enforce the rule of law.”
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler fired back Monday, noting that dozens of Texas stores have closed in recent years, adding, “The retail industry is changing and retail theft is a national issue.”
What role did crime play in Walmart’s closure?
Absent confirmation from Walmart, it’s difficult to say. The company’s CEO did tell CNBC in December that shoplifting might force price increases or store closures.
Cody Bowman, a spokesperson for Wheeler, said the company had not made any requests of the mayor’s office regarding retail theft.
Other major retailers, though, have asked the city to address shoplifting. Nike recently sought to hire off-duty police to provide security to reopen a temporarily shuttered store, a proposal the city rejected as not feasible given the police bureau’s staffing. And a broader coalition of retailers have asked for more reliable police response to theft reports and prosecution of alleged shoplifters.
Wheeler has said that retailers allow their security staff to detain alleged shoplifters until police arrive, a practice many retailers avoid because of potential legal liability. Walmart, however, does detain shoplifters, Bowman said.
Willis, the Walmart spokesperson, said the Portland Police Bureau had been “a great partner and we are extremely appreciative of their efforts to combat crime at this store.”
What’s Walmart’s history in Portland?
The Eastport Plaza store in Southeast Portland opened in the mid-1990s and expanded in 2011 to include a grocery section. The North Portland location near Delta Park opened in 2013.
It had twice in the intervening years proposed new Portland stores, one in Sellwood and one in Hayden Island. Both locations faced fierce opposition from neighbors and from Sam Adams, the city commissioner who would later become Portland’s mayor, who said the company treated its employees poorly.
Walmart also closed a small Portland technology office this year.
What about the rest of Oregon?
Walmart operates 45 stores in Oregon — including about a dozen within the Portland metro area but outside the city limits — and the company said no other closures are planned.
— The Oregonian/OregonLive
