Officials at Target Corp. — citing organized retail thefts and the ongoing threat such crimes often bring to their staff and customers — announced Tuesday that the company will cease operations at high-profile Target stores in Oakland, Pittsburg and San Francisco.
The last day those stores will be open is Oct. 20.
The company also announced the closure of stores in New York City, Seattle and Portland. Nine stores were closed in total nationwide under the heading of “team member and guest safety,” while company officials pointed out that they maintained dozens of other stores in each of those major markets.
“We take the decision to close stores very seriously, and only do so after taking meaningful steps to invest in the guest experience and improve business performance,” the company said in a statement announcing the closures. They added that they “cannot continue operating these stores, because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests and contributing to unsustainable business performance.
“We know that our stores serve an important role in their communities, but we can only be successful if the working and shopping environment is safe for all.”
“We deserve a Target,” Pittsburg Mayor Shanelle Scales-Preston said in an email Wednesday. “My community deserves a Target.”
The Target in Pittsburg has been at its current location in the Century Plaza since the 1990s.
“Before making the decision, we invested heavily in strategies to prevent and stop theft and organized retail crime in our stores, such as adding more security team members, using third-party services and implementing theft-deterrent tools across our business,” Target said in its statement. “Despite our efforts, unfortunately, we continue to face fundamental challenges to operating these stores safely and effectively.”
Scales-Preston and San Francisco city officials each said their cities have devoted money and human resources to fighting the organized thefts. City officials in Oakland — which on Tuesday saw a public demonstration from small business owners fed up with crime — did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“Uniformed and plain-clothes teams from the San Francisco Police Department are working every day to deter criminals and make arrests,” officials from the San Francisco Mayor’s Office wrote in a statement. The statement also said that Mayor London Breed “will continue to prioritize public safety investments to identify and dismantle organized fencing operations that sell stolen goods,” including hiring more police officers and community ambassadors.
Scales-Preston argued that Pittsburg was beginning to get a handle on some of the organized retail theft.
“The Target in Pittsburg right now has armed security, and the property owner of the commercial center also has a security guard circling the area,” she said by email. “And we have made sure by working with Pittsburg police that they have been on more patrol in Century Plaza, as well.”
At the Pittsburg location Wednesday afternoon, a couple dozen shoppers walked through a mostly empty store, most of them expressing disappointment.
“I’m bummed, but that’s about it,” longtime shopper Amanda Shanahan, of Pittsburg, said. “I have been shopping there since I can remember, and I worked there while I attended (nearby) Los Medanos College. I have no safety concerns in the store.”
According to the company, the closures leave open 32 stores in their Oakland/San Francisco market; those stores employ more than 6,400 people. The company did not say how many employees will lose their jobs as a result of the three store closures.
“It’s unfortunate,” Scales-Preston said. “They decide to pick this city to take (Target) away, when all these other cities are having the same issues with theft.”
Staff writer Judith Prieve contributed to this story.
