Walmart Arson Attack By Shoplifters: Total Loss

[Alpha8472]

A Walmart was set on fire March 23 by shoplifters in Fremont, California. The store is now shut down. All merchandise is ruined and must be thrown out. The store needs to be totally cleared out and repaired before it can be restocked.

This is a middle class, low crime suburb. I am shocked. Although, nearby cities are high crime.

At around 8 PM some people robbed the store in an arson attack. Fires were set and customers had to run for their lives. This was almost like a terrorist attack with flammable liquids and explosive bombs. It was a miracle people were not burned or killed.

This was not the first attack of this kind. Another Walmart in a nearby city was also attacked by arsonists. Employees fought back and used practically every single fire extinguisher in the store to stop the multiple fires that were set. The shoplifters were scared away that time.

[timanny]

This was the Stevenson/880 Walmart. The Osgood/680 Walmart is fine, but probably overwhelmed and will be for some time. I believe Osgood has taken on the pharmacy customers from Stevenson.

[Alpha8472]

This is a very small Walmart. It is perhaps 70,000 feet and only has one small entrance. It is not a supercenter and the auto shop was closed years ago.

These San Francisco Bay Area Walmarts have been doing very badly recently. Sales have been down 30 percent or more. This store has been rumored to be closing for years. The reason is the massive amount of locked cabinets. You cannot even buy an item because it is locked up and it takes an hour for an employee to find a key. Customers have gone elsewhere such as Target where merchandise is not locked up. It has looked like a ghost town in the past few months.

Of course, the cash register lines are long, but that is only because of the lack of cashiers. If you look at sales numbers, it has been dismal this year.

[Admin Edit] Calls for vigilante justice are forbidden and will not be tolerated. Consider this your only warning on the matter.

[storewanderer]

If only there were vigilantes who would rise up and fight back. Any person throwing a molotov cocktail will be shot. This would be labeled a terrorist attack if this were the Middle East. Firebombing a store and watching people flee for their lives... If the doors were blocked by shoplifter vehicles this would be a death trap.

When those mob robberies in nearby San Francisco happened the shoplifters blocked the streets with their cars limiting police access.

What about the car that kept ramming the doors at a Safeway night after night in another nearby suburb? Or the 6 stores rammed by cars in nearby San Jose?

This is a very small Walmart. It is perhaps 70,000 feet and only has one small entrance. It is not a supercenter and the auto shop was closed years ago.

These San Francisco Bay Area Walmarts have been doing very badly recently. Sales have been down 30 percent or more. This store has been rumored to be closing for years. The reason is the massive amount of locked cabinets. You cannot even buy an item because it is locked up and it takes an hour for an employee to find a key. Customers have gone elsewhere such as Target where merchandise is not locked up. It has looked like a ghost town in the past few months.

Of course, the cash register lines are long, but that is only because of the lack of cashiers. If you look at sales numbers, it has been dismal this year.

There seem to be some pretty serious issues in Northern California lately. I am not sure what has happened but safety is becoming a bigger and bigger concern in Northern California, specifically, the bay area, lately. The crime situation involving retail stores in Northern California again specifically the bay area seems to have hit a point not seen before elsewhere in the US. It appears to me the retail crime/theft ring in NorCal is easily the most powerful and effective in the entire US.

[Alpha8472]

The organized crime rings are a serious problem. I have friends in retail who said that the crime rings have paid people to get jobs in loss prevention at some of these chains to steal inside information. There were some arrests when someone was caught stealing and that led to heads of loss prevention at stores getting fired.

The crime rings now know all of the weaknesses of the loss prevention programs. This is why some chains seem to be targeted and why the crime rings are resorting to violence and fire. I would label them a terrorist organization as this is exactly what a terrorist group would do. The result is making people afraid to set foot in certain stores.

[storewanderer]

The organized crime rings are a serious problem. I have friends in retail who said that the crime rings have paid people to get jobs in loss prevention at some of these chains to steal inside information. There were some arrests when someone was caught stealing and that led to heads of loss prevention at stores getting fired.

The crime rings now know all of the weaknesses of the loss prevention programs. This is why some chains seem to be targeted and why the crime rings are resorting to violence and fire. I would label them a terrorist organization as this is exactly what a terrorist group would do. The result is making people afraid to set foot in certain stores.

When that Wal Mart in Oakland closed, it was a sign of things to come I guess. Super Kmart in Oakland was known to be a tough store but never heard of it having a major amount of crime/theft. But a lot has changed in 20 years I guess.

Then we still have those Targets in San Francisco... still closing very early... at least that did not spread out of San Francisco.

It will be interesting to see what happens. When crimes take place at a mall that endangers customers, it will often impact the mall's reputation for years to come. Will it be the same for certain retail store chains especially if the same chain's locations keep getting targeted? And this doesn't even get into the situation for employees and getting employees to actually come to work for these retailers... in a tough labor market there is no reason for employees to work somewhere they don't feel safe, there are too many other safe options.

[Alpha8472]

I was at a Walmart back in 2020 when it was attacked by looters. Customers had to run for their lives. The looters were vicious and set the store on fire. Many customers were afraid to even go back to the store when it reopened. It was very traumatic. It just never felt safe again. Sales at that store are down by 70 percent. It never recovered from the attack. However, other nearby Walmart stores saw increases in customers.

When Bayfair Mall was ransacked by looters and partially burned, the customer counts went down. It never recovered. Many stores closed. It may look busy on weekends, but it is a ghost town on weekdays and at night. Abandoned stores are a common sight at this mall. Kohl's is really empty right now. People are afraid to go back.

Baystreet shopping center in Emeryville was ransacked and set on fire. There are apartments on top of the mall. If the mall had completely burned down everyone trapped in the apartments on top would have died.

This caused people to move out. It is difficult to rent out apartments that seem like death traps.

Business never fully recovered. People lose confidence and never return.

[storewanderer]

Looking online it seems fires are more common than you'd think at Wal Mart (I would think it would never happen or be one of those once every decade type of events) but a quick search online reveals this happened at a distribution center and at least one other store within the past year.

[ClownLoach]

The organized crime rings are a serious problem. I have friends in retail who said that the crime rings have paid people to get jobs in loss prevention at some of these chains to steal inside information. There were some arrests when someone was caught stealing and that led to heads of loss prevention at stores getting fired.

The crime rings now know all of the weaknesses of the loss prevention programs. This is why some chains seem to be targeted and why the crime rings are resorting to violence and fire. I would label them a terrorist organization as this is exactly what a terrorist group would do. The result is making people afraid to set foot in certain stores.

When that Wal Mart in Oakland closed, it was a sign of things to come I guess. Super Kmart in Oakland was known to be a tough store but never heard of it having a major amount of crime/theft. But a lot has changed in 20 years I guess.

Then we still have those Targets in San Francisco... still closing very early... at least that did not spread out of San Francisco.

It will be interesting to see what happens. When crimes take place at a mall that endangers customers, it will often impact the mall's reputation for years to come. Will it be the same for certain retail store chains especially if the same chain's locations keep getting targeted? And this doesn't even get into the situation for employees and getting employees to actually come to work for these retailers... in a tough labor market there is no reason for employees to work somewhere they don't feel safe, there are too many other safe options.

Target is quietly closing early in more markets. Orange County is now moved to all 10pm closing, 9pm Sundays despite posted hours on the front of the stores. This has to be corporate directed because the Target App and Website show the reduced hours. I was there at closing in a busy store that normally closes at midnight and there clearly was not a staffing shortage nor a lack of customers and they will definitely lose sales because of this early close in a busy night store. I was surprised by the early closing since the signs say 12am. They also had 3 uniformed Asset Protection associates at the front doors. This was at the Tustin Market Place so a very nice area. Not sure if they are expanding this to other areas as well.

[storewanderer]

Target is quietly closing early in more markets. Orange County is now moved to all 10pm closing, 9pm Sundays despite posted hours on the front of the stores. This has to be corporate directed because the Target App and Website show the reduced hours. I was there at closing in a busy store that normally closes at midnight and there clearly was not a staffing shortage nor a lack of customers and they will definitely lose sales because of this early close in a busy night store. I was surprised by the early closing since the signs say 12am. They also had 3 uniformed Asset Protection associates at the front doors. This was at the Tustin Market Place so a very nice area. Not sure if they are expanding this to other areas as well.

It is particularly odd to do this right before summer as more people are out at night. Also in Southern California in particular there is a good amount of night traffic. I noticed some Ralphs open until 1 AM (most Kroger divisions in the west close at 11 PM).

I noticed recently when Target has a "Drive Up" order after dark that two employees carry it out. The other night I watched two employees carry one a single small greeting card-sized bag to someone. Hilarious. The Drive Ups are the local stores are placed a long ways from the doors out in the middle of the parking lot and the walk is a few minutes each way. Waste of labor, if it comes to this for safety reasons they probably need to force the Drive Ups to go inside for pick up after dark.

However I am not sure if they will lose sales to the early closure. What will the customers do? Find a Wal Mart (only open until 11?)? Or are you thinking more along the lines of losing impulse sales due to kicking people out who arrive at 9:30 and would have lingered past 10?