Portland REI to close early next year, citing break-ins, thefts

[John S.]

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/rei-portland-pearl-district-closure/283-086a8564-869b-46c0-87e4-53c0827ab740

“In a letter to members, REI said its Pearl District location saw its highest number of break-ins and thefts in two decades last year, despite adding security.”

[Jerry Adams]

and, they outgrew their space and couldn’t renegotiate the lease at a reasonable rate

sometimes, people will use high crime to justify there business decisions because then it’s not their fault, better to blame it on someone else

not that crime isn’t an issue.  Number of break ins has dropped by about half in the last year according to the story I saw.  Maybe the increase had something to do with covid and now that we’re leaving that crisis things are slowly returning to normal.  Same with a lot of other things, like the economy.

[Jerry Adams]

the local CBS affiliate just reported that REI is closing because of high crime and didn’t mention also outgrew space and unable to renegotiate lease.

no wonder we’re all paranoid about things like high crime and bad economy – the media is constantly running sensational stories to make more money on ads

which I don’t blame them for because otherwise they’ll go out of business, they’re desperate.  They have employees that depend on them for a living…

[Jerry Adams]

sorry, I won’t make any more posts about this : )

local CBS affiliate ran another story about causes of REI closing – high crime, outgrowing space, lease expiring.  And a graph that showed how property crimes in Portland have dropped about half in the last year

scheduling which news to run minute to minute is difficult

[DWR D]

‘News’ is not a science… it’s more like a fast moving gossip network these days…

[HkNewman]

.. justify business decisions

The news release from REI cited employee safety but that could be a number of things .. plus a combination of factors we do not see as “the public”.  Pity as that was the [REI] store I’d buy from before returning home to the desert after the relatively mild PNW late summers.  Great independent gear stores that may not be as plunderable?

Then there’s the REI Clackamakas store at the end of the green line iirc (love the Tri-Met btw).  Pretty sure the dueling banjos there are part of the shopping mall musak.

[Jerry Adams]

REI in Tualatin south of Portland.  Another in Hillsboro west of portland.

[Matthew / BPL]

Bummer the store is closing. This site is not about politics, police reform, etc. I’m locking the thread now rather than letting this turn into long-term argument. ✌️

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