Target announcing closures in Portland, Ore.; Seattle, Wash.; California; Harlem

[buckguy]

A few observations:

There's another WF closer to downtown on Broadway--I was there in February and it still seems to be there.

The East Harlem store is part of a cluster of big box stores that includes Costco. Target is opening a new store in Central Harlem, so they have some commitment to the area, although Central Harlem is economically better off than East Harlem.

Target is till opening smaller and urban stores--they're opening two stores in other parts of Manhattan and in Brooklyn and Queens, as well as in Miami and Chicago.

[ClownLoach]

It will be interesting to see what happens next in Portland.

There was a full size store at 122nd & Glisan that closed years ago. While watching the news tonight, KPTV also had a report citing Gateway and Cascade Station as high theft areas. Gateway has the Fred Meyer with extra security measures and a Kohl's that seems out of place. Cascade Station has a full size Target, IKEA, and several other stores.

Last time we flew in to Portland, we were shocked to see the Cascade Station Target and what was going on there. It always seemed like a nice, quiet and peaceful location, and many times we would get off the plane and go there first as we sometimes just fly without some of the basics to speed up the process and just buy when we land. Even a couple years ago that location was fine. Not now! Target and the shopping center owner have had to install what I would describe as militarized security levels - there are fully armed security guards with multiple weapons, full body armor, and body cameras for the store employees. I'm talking about guards armed for a full shootout, which would probably never be allowed in California stores. Problem is as soon as you see this level of security you feel uncomfortable, and it isn't necessarily protecting the store as someone ran out a fire exit with stolen merchandise while we were there. (Interestingly enough we went to four Targets that week between Portland and Seattle, and 3 times someone set off a fire exit door alarm obviously running out with stolen merchandise). Multiple security vehicles roaming the parking lot at Cascade station with their "emergency" lights on so it looks like an active crime scene at all times, and also their vehicles deliberately blocking some driveways which I was surprised by (since that would prevent access by emergency personnel). I didn't understand at the moment what was happening, but the issue is that Portland made a disastrous decision to try to save downtown by pushing all the homeless out. So now they're spread through the entire city (which is quite large for those who have never been) and the encampments are along the waterfront and through the town all the way to I-205 and beyond now. And all this managed to accomplish was making the way for a whole new generation of homeless to set up downtown. Meanwhile as you drive through neighborhoods like the Hollywood District where another Target is closing (converted short-time OSH) you see where modest apartment complexes and motels have been demolished and replaced with 5 story "luxury" apartments with limited "affordable" spaces that are still substantially more expensive than the places they replaced. Portland and Seattle are basically manufacturing their own homeless by encouraging this rampant overdevelopment that they claim is the cure for the problem when in fact it is the cause of the issue.

[ClownLoach]

A few observations:

There's another WF closer to downtown on Broadway--I was there in February and it still seems to be there.

The East Harlem store is part of a cluster of big box stores that includes Costco. Target is opening a new store in Central Harlem, so they have some commitment to the area, although Central Harlem is economically better off than East Harlem.

Target is till opening smaller and urban stores--they're opening two stores in other parts of Manhattan and in Brooklyn and Queens, as well as in Miami and Chicago.

You are correct, there apparently is confusion with the media posting incorrect pictures of small formats and representing them as the closing location in Harlem. It is a 2010 build Target which is a full size. The upcoming new store is much smaller. There was a news story I can't find now saying that they had many glass doors over merchandise and that they had thieves boldly smashing them with hammers so there was always broken glass around the floor. Not good.

Now that it's closing the police are apparently making a show of force and hanging out at the entrances. Too little, too late. Major blow to the community as it's obviously a very high volume store that unfortunately was negative contribution due to shrink. The news media lately is trying to push back on shrink which is bizarre, but I do agree from my experience that it only takes a few out of control stores to spike the entire company results. I've seen where the top 1% shrink stores can move an entire multi billion dollar chain shrink up 30-40% because they're basically being looted daily and out of control, and when that happens they have to be closed. Walgreens was approaching 3% shrink, closed a handful of problem stores (including many in San Francisco) and next year they were at 2%. It has to be done.

No new small formats are getting added to the list though, and some are reportedly stalled. Downtown San Diego is fully built and ready, and has been all year. It just needs the shelves stocked and it could open this week. But it hasn't opened. There have been a few of what I'll call medium formats added to the list, Waikiki Beach which obviously isn't going to be a conventional small store and it's 77,000 Sq ft. Then the Miami area stores which are listed at 49,000 Sq ft... No new true small formats like these former Office supply store size boxes are getting leased. Target clearly is moving on and as I said I'm sure they will just not renew the leases. When they started this initiative of small formats they were in a sales crisis and needed to show some positive metrics so they actually decided to do small format entirely because the sales per square foot would be higher. The problem is that the labor percentage is substantially higher than a normal Target due to irregular logistics, oddball backrooms like the sliding rack systems that mean only one aisle is accessible at any given time, and ultimately now nobody on Wall Street cares about sales per square foot because e-commerce ship-from-store concepts skew the number. My bet is ten years from now there are maybe a dozen of these left like the Vegas strip one and Times Square, although they could easily offload those to their business partner CVS because they frankly are just that, a CVS with a bullseye sign.

All the new locations getting added to the list besides the 49K Miami stores and Waikiki are all the new mega-format that's larger than many first generation SuperTarget and Greatland locations. I think the cluster of 49K Miami stores are going to be a revamped "small-medium" format concept test. It's odd to see that specific size repeated in an area. The Target small format Store Managers I've talked to both said that food is most of the sales volume for the whole store, their most important department. I don't think that's the case for the rest of the chain, so obviously they need to fix these small stores if they are really like 70% food sales yet only 15% of the floor space is food. They should basically just be the normal P-fresh aisles as an entire store plus the health and beauty aisles.

[babs]

It will be interesting to see what happens next in Portland.

There was a full size store at 122nd & Glisan that closed years ago. While watching the news tonight, KPTV also had a report citing Gateway and Cascade Station as high theft areas. Gateway has the Fred Meyer with extra security measures and a Kohl's that seems out of place. Cascade Station has a full size Target, IKEA, and several other stores.

Last time we flew in to Portland, we were shocked to see the Cascade Station Target and what was going on there. It always seemed like a nice, quiet and peaceful location, and many times we would get off the plane and go there first as we sometimes just fly without some of the basics to speed up the process and just buy when we land. Even a couple years ago that location was fine. Not now! Target and the shopping center owner have had to install what I would describe as militarized security levels - there are fully armed security guards with multiple weapons, full body armor, and body cameras for the store employees. I'm talking about guards armed for a full shootout, which would probably never be allowed in California stores. Problem is as soon as you see this level of security you feel uncomfortable, and it isn't necessarily protecting the store as someone ran out a fire exit with stolen merchandise while we were there. (Interestingly enough we went to four Targets that week between Portland and Seattle, and 3 times someone set off a fire exit door alarm obviously running out with stolen merchandise). Multiple security vehicles roaming the parking lot at Cascade station with their "emergency" lights on so it looks like an active crime scene at all times, and also their vehicles deliberately blocking some driveways which I was surprised by (since that would prevent access by emergency personnel). I didn't understand at the moment what was happening, but the issue is that Portland made a disastrous decision to try to save downtown by pushing all the homeless out. So now they're spread through the entire city (which is quite large for those who have never been) and the encampments are along the waterfront and through the town all the way to I-205 and beyond now. And all this managed to accomplish was making the way for a whole new generation of homeless to set up downtown. Meanwhile as you drive through neighborhoods like the Hollywood District where another Target is closing (converted short-time OSH) you see where modest apartment complexes and motels have been demolished and replaced with 5 story "luxury" apartments with limited "affordable" spaces that are still substantially more expensive than the places they replaced. Portland and Seattle are basically manufacturing their own homeless by encouraging this rampant overdevelopment that they claim is the cure for the problem when in fact it is the cause of the issue.

Jantzen Beach and the Mall (or Marketplace) 205 stores have the same issue.

The issue isn't the new apartment buildings. It's the attitude of many to just leave the homeless alone. Also, they decimalized drug possession so it's basically legal with the hope that if the get a ticket, they will show up for treatment to get rid of the ticket...yeah that didn't work. Homelessness is all over the city, it's still downtown so that's a correct statement that they have pushed it out. It's all over the place. Over a billion dollars has been raised to fix the problem and they have so much money, they don't know how to spend it. There is enough money for everyone to get some sort of housing. The real issue is that many in Portland have confused compassion and tolerance. You can have compassion for the homeless but that doesn't mean we have to tolerate what they are doing.

[ClownLoach]

It will be interesting to see what happens next in Portland.

There was a full size store at 122nd & Glisan that closed years ago. While watching the news tonight, KPTV also had a report citing Gateway and Cascade Station as high theft areas. Gateway has the Fred Meyer with extra security measures and a Kohl's that seems out of place. Cascade Station has a full size Target, IKEA, and several other stores.

Last time we flew in to Portland, we were shocked to see the Cascade Station Target and what was going on there. It always seemed like a nice, quiet and peaceful location, and many times we would get off the plane and go there first as we sometimes just fly without some of the basics to speed up the process and just buy when we land. Even a couple years ago that location was fine. Not now! Target and the shopping center owner have had to install what I would describe as militarized security levels - there are fully armed security guards with multiple weapons, full body armor, and body cameras for the store employees. I'm talking about guards armed for a full shootout, which would probably never be allowed in California stores. Problem is as soon as you see this level of security you feel uncomfortable, and it isn't necessarily protecting the store as someone ran out a fire exit with stolen merchandise while we were there. (Interestingly enough we went to four Targets that week between Portland and Seattle, and 3 times someone set off a fire exit door alarm obviously running out with stolen merchandise). Multiple security vehicles roaming the parking lot at Cascade station with their "emergency" lights on so it looks like an active crime scene at all times, and also their vehicles deliberately blocking some driveways which I was surprised by (since that would prevent access by emergency personnel). I didn't understand at the moment what was happening, but the issue is that Portland made a disastrous decision to try to save downtown by pushing all the homeless out. So now they're spread through the entire city (which is quite large for those who have never been) and the encampments are along the waterfront and through the town all the way to I-205 and beyond now. And all this managed to accomplish was making the way for a whole new generation of homeless to set up downtown. Meanwhile as you drive through neighborhoods like the Hollywood District where another Target is closing (converted short-time OSH) you see where modest apartment complexes and motels have been demolished and replaced with 5 story "luxury" apartments with limited "affordable" spaces that are still substantially more expensive than the places they replaced. Portland and Seattle are basically manufacturing their own homeless by encouraging this rampant overdevelopment that they claim is the cure for the problem when in fact it is the cause of the issue.

Jantzen Beach and the Mall (or Marketplace) 205 stores have the same issue.

The issue isn't the new apartment buildings. It's the attitude of many to just leave the homeless alone. Also, they decimalized drug possession so it's basically legal with the hope that if the get a ticket, they will show up for treatment to get rid of the ticket...yeah that didn't work. Homelessness is all over the city, it's still downtown so that's a correct statement that they have pushed it out. It's all over the place. Over a billion dollars has been raised to fix the problem and they have so much money, they don't know how to spend it. There is enough money for everyone to get some sort of housing. The real issue is that many in Portland have confused compassion and tolerance. You can have compassion for the homeless but that doesn't mean we have to tolerate what they are doing.

I'm familiar with the culture, and that's why you can cross the river and won't see the same behaviors tolerated in Vancouver, WA which a decade ago was arguably worse than Portland for homelessness. But the over development is a very real problem. Our friends there used to be in the media, both print and TV, and they saw what was going on close hand. Portland was growing very rapidly and needed more housing, but they used to run into a lot of opposition to big development since the culture there is somewhat anti-corporate. So they thought if they relaxed regulations on replacing the low-density, lower end housing stock like cheap apartment complexes and motels nobody would complain. The problem is that the vast majority of those living in these "cheap" properties were barely breaking even and paying their rent, lots of disabled and drug addicted people but they were behind closed doors and under a roof. Surely quite a few did steal to pay the rent. But when the government successfully helped the developers strip the city of the lowest cost housing these people wound up on the streets. And they know the government helped make them homeless so now they're resentful and won't listen when someone says "I'm from the city and I'm here to help." Sure, they've spent a fortune on homeless programs but the reality is they were profiting from the higher property taxes on all these shiny new developments. Now the situation has tipped too far into chaos. You can address the drug situation but once the addict is sober and clean there is nowhere for them to go because all the affordable housing is gone. And the supposed requirements that new developments have "affordable" units are BS, when you tear down a complex that was renting 10 basic apartments for $750/month and replace it with 30 units that rent for $3500, plus 5 units that are "affordable" at only $2000 which is "below market rent" - you haven't contributed anything to creating any actually affordable housing at all.

[bryceleinan]

I think one of the things cities need to look at is what Sherwood, OR (a southern suburb of Portland, in Washington County) is doing. Their officers are constantly at Target and the adjacent Walmart arresting and prosecuting the chronic shoplifters in their area, and posting about it on social media. I know someone at that agency, and they do not take kindly to theft out of their retailers. I do not hear about the rampant theft in the south metro, including Yamhill County - it is like an entirely different community, because they actually prosecute these cases.

[babs]

I think one of the things cities need to look at is what Sherwood, OR (a southern suburb of Portland, in Washington County) is doing. Their officers are constantly at Target and the adjacent Walmart arresting and prosecuting the chronic shoplifters in their area, and posting about it on social media. I know someone at that agency, and they do not take kindly to theft out of their retailers. I do not hear about the rampant theft in the south metro, including Yamhill County - it is like an entirely different community, because they actually prosecute these cases.

Sherwood has little other crime. They use red light cameras at their major intersections. It's not because they prosecute, it's because the police have the time to do this.

Also, the decision to prosecute is made by the county prosecutor, not the city.

[norcalriteaidclerk]

Target bought Gemco and entered California around 1987.

Gemco was owned by Lucky the supermarket chain. It was a membership club with a full supermarket inside selling Lady Lee products. It was a Supercenter years before Walmart ever opened up a supercenter.

There were two sets of checkouts. One for grocery and one for the general merchandise area. They had everything: toys, electronics, a pharmacy, bakery, donut shop, garden center, records, tapes, cds, hardware, auto parts, clothing, etc. It was like Costco combined with a supercenter. Membership was $1.

Actually Target first gained a foothold in Southern California earlier in the 1980's when they acquired leaseholds on a number of FedMart locations after that chain went belly up though acquiring the Gemco leases years later (when Lucky Stores dissolved the chain after the 1986 holiday season as part of exiting non-core businesses to fend off numerous hostile takeover attempts)was the big move that really put their bullseye on the Golden State.

[ClownLoach]

San Diego U-T is reporting Target has decided they will not open their already built-out small format in Downtown.

They will be on the hook for over a million dollars a year in rent.

I think small format Target is dead in its current form and this is another example. That location didn't need the small format Target, it needed a grocery store.

[jamcool]

Target bought Gemco and entered California around 1987.

Gemco was owned by Lucky the supermarket chain. It was a membership club with a full supermarket inside selling Lady Lee products. It was a Supercenter years before Walmart ever opened up a supercenter.

There were two sets of checkouts. One for grocery and one for the general merchandise area. They had everything: toys, electronics, a pharmacy, bakery, donut shop, garden center, records, tapes, cds, hardware, auto parts, clothing, etc. It was like Costco combined with a supercenter. Membership was $1.

Actually Target first gained a foothold in Southern California earlier in the 1980's when they acquired leaseholds on a number of FedMart locations after that chain went belly up though acquiring the Gemco leases years later (when Lucky Stores dissolved the chain after the 1986 holiday season as part of exiting non-core businesses to fend off numerous hostile takeover attempts)was the big move that really put their bullseye on the Golden State.

Target picked up a bunch of Zodys locations in CA and AZ as well