Retail Watchers

Trader Joe's should expand more in the central valley. Visalia and Merced would be great cities for fresh blood for Trader Joes.

Hmm..... I'm wondering if Dollar Tree ends up rebranding to Family Dollar if these trends continue. The panhandlers outside the store near my house keeps me away from shopping there.

To me no closure news is good news. I just worry about the NorCal/Oregon stores as the most vulnerable right now with the distribution centers being so far away. I'll wait to see what will be the actual number of closures after all the leases that can't be renegotiated on that list.

At the two dollar tree stores in the bad part of Fresno, they don't allow any backpacks or large bags in the store. Walgreen's near Fresno City College has also implemented a large bag prohibition due to theft issues. This may be a trend in areas with high theft.

I wonder if this will be a start of a trend. I can understand the issue with shrink and I wonder if it is also the fact that more cities are now implementing curfews due crime trends.

The Walmart at Herndon/Ingram in Fresno is now restricting self-checkout to 20 items or less and only have a fraction of the self-checkouts open. They have an officer stationed near the self-checkout right now and are in the process of hiring private security to station near the entrances.

I even hear for people who do not have cars in Oakland it is very difficult to get food delivered in those areas. Since dashers don't want to deliver to those areas.

The fact the citizens are starting to say "enough is enough" is step one. National Guard is needed in Oakland at this point and honestly, Oakland is likely heading for municipal bankruptcy, so I don't know if things have bottomed out there yet.

Until trends change in Oakland, I can see more fast food places follow suit. Even bay area residents are fed up with all the theft and are voting for law and order. The mayor in Oakland will likely be successfully recalled at this rate and bring in someone who will fix the police department.

The bay area locations never got remodels and the Fresno stores got theirs in the mid-2010s. I'm glad they finally did the repairs at the Fresno locations so the dining rooms can be open. Visalia is finally going to get a remodel in the near future.