Walgreens closing 5 San Francisco stores due to 'organized retail crime'

by andyxor on 10/13/2021, 12:50:33 AM with 96 comments

  • by bryan0 on 10/13/2021, 2:13:51 AM

    Discussion from a few months ago when Target reduced SF store hours due to retail theft: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27718204

  • by zthrowaway on 10/13/2021, 1:51:51 AM

    Turns out defunding the police and not enforcing laws has consequences.

  • by nimos on 10/13/2021, 2:24:06 AM

    Surprised how far out those stores are - only the 300 Gough St one is really close to the Tenderloin.

  • by zardo on 10/13/2021, 3:21:33 AM

    Walgreens is losing money and shutting down hundreds of stores nation wide.

  • by throwaway3776 on 10/13/2021, 3:04:04 AM

    Throwaway, but I can assure you as an SF resident, most of us are more than happy to see Walgreens go.

    They pay and treat their employees terribly along with pushing junk food and other garbage to people just trying to fill a prescription.

    We are excited for quality, owner operated pharmacies to return and replace them. Just like they served us before Walgreens came in and muscled them all out of business.

    It’s almost as if not looking out for your community results in that community not looking out for you.

  • by zz865 on 10/13/2021, 1:06:24 PM

    I'd think Amazon is a big influence too. Traditionally these pharmacies sell stuff a huge markups, its amazing how much cheaper OTC medicines and lotions are online. These big pharmacy chains are on borrowed time even without the shoplifting.

  • by zz865 on 10/13/2021, 2:34:21 AM

    NYC is similar https://nypost.com/2021/10/02/nyc-man-leads-record-shatterin...

    > Rodriguez is finally in jail, but he rode the city’s revolving door of justice to allegedly rip off Walgreens 37 times this year. He was particularly partial to the drug store at 91-08 Roosevelt Ave. in Jackson Heights, which he hit 23 times, police said.

  • by xrd on 10/13/2021, 3:26:49 AM

    I wonder if there is some Marxist website somewhere celebrating this.

    These huge businesses like Walmart, Walgreens and Starbucks target and study successful mom and pop businesses and then move in ruthlessly. In Portland I've seen so many great local businesses destroyed because they couldn't compete with the large chains. And, if that eventually doesn't work out for the chain, they close up shop.

    Amazon and Walmart have destroyed small mom and pop grocery stores across the country.

    I bet these retail gangs wouldn't go after a mom and pop shop of any kind. The owner would probably fight them with their bare hands. That's why they are going after Walgreens.

    In some weird way, this feels like capitalism, actually. It's just a hidden facet we don't see often.

  • by rgergerger4 on 10/13/2021, 2:35:42 AM

    In a few years we will be hearing about all the food deserts in San Francisco and how they stem from racism and white supremacy...

  • by themodelplumber on 10/13/2021, 12:55:39 AM

    > During this time to help combat this issue, we increased our investments in security measures in stores across the city to 46 times our chain average in an effort to provide a safe environment.”

    I wonder how they arrived at this number of 46x.

    46x the chain average of single minutes spent reviewing security staff resumes?

    46x the chain average of security camera photos sent to LEOs?

    46x the average number of bic lighters placed further back? No, up more? No, up and back higher, like where you can't reach? No, they can really jump that high, so up higher?