Police say Brooklyn Center Walmart near Shingle Creek Crossing has seen thousands of police actions over the past five years. The big store announced that it plans to close its doors on April 21st.
RELATED: Brooklyn Center Walmart is permanently closing on April 21
In a statement to 5 EYWITNESS NEWS, the company said the move was due to it not meeting “financial expectations”.
Since the Brooklyn Center Walmart opened in 2012, it has been a crime hotspot. Customers say they are not surprised by the closure due to the rise in crime.
“Every other day we walk in here and grab something and there’s a fight outside or you see someone running off with merchandise,” Lauren Cole said.
Brooklyn Center police said Walmart made 6,177 calls for services over the past five years. That’s double the number of calls compared to surrounding businesses like Super 8 and Cub Foods with 3,270 and 3,038 calls, respectively. All three companies top the city’s list for Call for Services.
For further context, police say the Walmart in Brooklyn Park, just six miles away, has had 1,679 calls for services over the past five years.
In the past, state lawmakers have shared concerns that Walmart is draining public resources.
In 2017, the big grocery store agreed to pay an off-duty officer to patrol the Brooklyn Center store four days a week.
After 10 years as an anchor store in the area, customers told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS they hope the closure is a wake-up call.
“Let’s take care of our neighborhood and keep nice things here so it can help other unfortunate people who can’t travel to shop in other places so they have a place to shop here,” said Jason Cole.
The store has 350 employees and city officials said they are working on moving those employees to other locations.
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