SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Target said it will close three Bay Area stores due to retail theft, the company announced Tuesday.
“We cannot continue to operate these stores because theft and organized retail crime threaten the safety of our team and guests and contribute to unsustainable business performance,” the Minneapolis-based company wrote on its website.
“We know our stores play an important role in their communities, but we can only be successful if the working and shopping environment is safe for everyone.”
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The company says it will close nine stores in four states effective Oct. 21.
The following Bay Area stores are scheduled to close next month:
San Francisco:
1690 Folsom St. (Folsom and 13th St)
Oakland:
2650 Broadway (Oakland Broadway & 27th)
Pittsburg:
4301 Century Blvd
Target said 32 stores in the Bay Area remain open and more than 6,400 employees are keeping their jobs.
Stores in New York City, Portland and Seattle will also be affected.
Target says it has invested heavily in strategies to prevent and combat theft and organized retail crime in its stores, such as hiring additional security team members, deploying third-party security guards and implementing anti-theft measures across the company.
“Unfortunately, despite our efforts, we continue to face fundamental challenges in operating these businesses safely and successfully,” the company wrote.
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It’s unclear how much money retailers overall are losing to organized retail crime – or whether the problem has grown significantly. In recent years, however, the issue has received more attention as high-profile retail thefts and flash mob robberies have captured national media attention. In recent quarters, a growing number of retailers, including Dick’s Sporting Goods and Ulta Beauty, have pointed to rising thefts, citing them as a factor in declining profits.
The National Retail Federation, the country’s largest retail group, said its latest safety survey of about 177 retailers showed that inventory loss – so-called shrinkage – averaged 1.6% last year, representing losses of $112.1 billion -dollars equivalent. That’s an increase from the estimated $94 billion in 2021.
However, based on total sales, this figure has been less than 2% over the last seven years.
It’s important to note that this is a survey, meaning it is an estimate and not a complete collection of all retail thefts. The retailers surveyed are not listed, so we do not know which ones were selected and where they are located.
The survey also estimates that only 36% of shrinkage in 2022 will be due to external theft, including organized retail crime. That means 64% came from other sources such as theft, loss, etc. by employees.
Additionally, while the survey indicates that Los Angeles and San Francisco are the cities most affected by organized retail crime in 2022, the report does not provide numbers to quantify this.
The NRF said that while retailers continue to improve their loss prevention measures, sometimes more drastic measures need to be taken. Nearly 30% of retailers surveyed said they were forced to close a specific store location and 45% said they had to reduce operating hours. About 30% said they had to change or reduce product selection in stores as a direct result of retail crime.
Late last year, Congress passed a bill called the INFORM ACT, which aims to combat the sale of counterfeit goods and dangerous products by requiring online marketplaces to verify various types of information – including bank account, tax ID and contact details – from sellers Those who produce products make at least 200 individual sales and earn at least $5,000 in a given year.
Target announced Tuesday that it is making significant investments in cyber defenses to combat retail theft and fraud and has partnered with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations division to combat retail theft.
The Associate Press contributed to this report.