Target Reducing Hours To 9-6 PM in San Francisco

Predicting the demise of Sears & Kmart since 2017!
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Re: Target Reducing Hours To 9-6 PM in San Francisco

Post by veteran+ »

storewanderer wrote: July 3rd, 2021, 12:39 pm
veteran+ wrote: July 3rd, 2021, 10:03 am Has anyone performed a deep professional "root cause analysis" of the issues?

It seems to me that it is way more complicated than what has been proferred here so far.

Just sayin..............................

;-)
What we are faced with at this point would be the effects:
1. Stores only open 9 AM to 6 PM during the summer when it isn't dark until close to 9 PM - this causes various effects. Customers who work a normal 8-5 job can barely get to the store to shop anymore.
2. Safety issues with the stores causing a potential danger to all involved

Also, I read one of the Safeways now has to keep all of their carts inside because within a week 160 carts were stolen from outside the store. So they put big sticks on every cart so the carts cannot go through the doors (if these thieves are truly aggressive they could probably lift/flip the carts to get them out the door- but these sticks look very very tall so maybe not). I have never seen a grocery stores do this but have seen some dollar stores and drug stores do this.
https://hoodline.com/2021/07/church-mar ... ts-stolen/
I get it and the dynamics of all of it but.........................

That is not root cause analysis (this is probably not the appropriate venue for it). Everything mentioned thus far are symptoms and reactions to those symptoms. All that cursory activity is NOT going to solve the plethora of problems.
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Re: Target Reducing Hours To 9-6 PM in San Francisco

Post by Alpha8472 »

Shoplifters, and violent homeless people are a societal problem. However, there are some cities that are magnets for homeless people, and the cities that allow the homeless to get away with crime have no one to blame but themselves. There are many cities that do not have these problems on such a scale.

No one has the answers to how to fix these problems, but we can at least try to figure out some options.
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Re: Target Reducing Hours To 9-6 PM in San Francisco

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: July 3rd, 2021, 1:01 pm

I get it and the dynamics of all of it but.........................

That is not root cause analysis (this is probably not the appropriate venue for it). Everything mentioned thus far are symptoms and reactions to those symptoms. All that cursory activity is NOT going to solve the plethora of problems.
One thing for sure is it won't be fixed overnight. There are so many things that have happened that have brought things to this point...

Recall about 10 years ago when Target opened in San Francisco that Mission store. There was a lot of excitement that they were opening among many who lived in the city. Many were looking for more affordable shopping options and regularly drove down to the south edge to go to Target (there are two Target Stores in very close proximity in Daly City and Colma).

The whole City Target and then mini Target strategies struck me as being patterned after what I thought were successes in San Francisco with these formats... and similar to that Wal Mart near the Oakland Airport that shut down I am guessing these Targets are not lacking customers or in a situation where they are failing from the reason of not enough customers shopping there...
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Re: Target Reducing Hours To 9-6 PM in San Francisco

Post by BillyGr »

storewanderer wrote: July 3rd, 2021, 12:39 pm Also, I read one of the Safeways now has to keep all of their carts inside because within a week 160 carts were stolen from outside the store. So they put big sticks on every cart so the carts cannot go through the doors (if these thieves are truly aggressive they could probably lift/flip the carts to get them out the door- but these sticks look very very tall so maybe not). I have never seen a grocery stores do this but have seen some dollar stores and drug stores do this.
https://hoodline.com/2021/07/church-mar ... ts-stolen/
Not that, but even back into the 1980's some of the supermarkets in more city areas around here had fencing around the front that prevented the carts from going beyond the sidewalk (there were spaces between posts that a person could walk through but were too small for a cart, with a couple gates that could be opened for someone in a wheelchair or similar).

Going back to the Target thing - maybe they need to find a few former football players (particularly those on the physically larger side) to "hang out" near the entries of stores - that might discourage people from trying to leave with items not purchased...
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Re: Target Reducing Hours To 9-6 PM in San Francisco

Post by mbz321 »

Super S wrote: July 2nd, 2021, 10:54 am 9-6 sounds more like the hours of a struggling Kmart. Seriously. If Target has to close that early, it hints at issues with shoplifting or possibly not being able to hire enough staff.
It's shoplifting, pure and simple. It seems thugs are robbing the city blind, it's amazing that any of these businesses bother to remain open at all. Did you see the video of people grabbing purses and running out of the SF Neiman Marcus the other day?

I'm surprised places like Target haven't switched to a 'pickup only' model at some of these stores, block off the sales floor and just have an area by the entrance/exit for pickup...it seems like it would be a good solution to reduce theft, unless the stores are really that unprofitable for other reasons.
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Re: Target Reducing Hours To 9-6 PM in San Francisco

Post by Alpha8472 »

The problem is that if you call the police in San Francisco, they will not respond to Shoplifting. However, if you were in a suburban city where there is low crime the police will show up in minutes. They may even catch some of these shoplifters or someone may get a license plate. The police in other cities will pursue and even track those license plates. This makes it much more likely that someone will get caught in another city.

In San Francisco, the police do not respond and the prosecutors do not prosecute.

I see Police cars parked in the parking lots of Target stores in the affluent suburbs 30 minutes away from San Francisco. These police departments are quick to respond and make arrests. The suburban courts also do prosecute and are tough on crime.

Even the Apple store has a police car in front during the day. The crime rate in the affluent cities is low and you do not have homeless people on the streets. The police get rid of them as soon as they see them.
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Re: Target Reducing Hours To 9-6 PM in San Francisco

Post by storewanderer »

This could be an interesting solution- close the store except to pick up orders. Perhaps you only operate the sales floor from 9-6 but then you allow pick up orders until 9 PM or 10 PM. Store staff could pick orders during times the sales floor is closed (would be more efficient than doing it when customers are present).

Probably would need to get gates for the sales floor.
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