Multiple Sources Question Whether Theft Is an Excuse for Target’s Store Closures

When Target said on September 26, 2023 that it would close nine stores across four states on October 21, 2023, its rationale was that it could no longer continue because of theft.

“We 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,” the company wrote at the time.

And yet, there are questions, based on publicly available crime data, and also suspicions that company strategy, not an onslaught of organized theft, might be the bigger reason.

The company claimed in its 2024 Q2 earnings call in August that it had seen a “120% increase in theft incidents involving violence or threat of violence” and that “our team continues to face an unacceptable amount of retail theft and organized retail crime,” as Chairman and CEO Brian Cornell said. He continued that “we’ve experienced more than a percentage point of cumulative profit pressure from higher shrink since 2019.”

However, while inventory shrinkage does include theft, it also includes damage and administrative errors, and the company did not break out figures into those subgroups, making it impossible to know from the outside how much inventory loss was due to theft versus internal factors.

Target, which hasn’t yet responded to GlobeSt.com questions, explained at length about the steps it had taken to fight theft: adding security workers, using locking cases, training store managers and personnel, and using technology. The stores closing are one in Harlem, New York City (leaving 96 stores in the “New York City market,” which is geographically large); two in Seattle (leaving 22 stores); three in San Francisco (32 stores remaining in the “San Francisco/Oakland market,” another significant large geographic area); and three in Portland, Oregon (with 15 stores remaining).

But in New York, as the Gothamist reported, “Still, the company plans to open another outlet in Harlem at 125th Street and Lenox Avenue — just 1.5 miles from the location it plans to close at the East River Plaza.”

“This store has been a lifeline for many East Harlem residents, providing jobs and stability for their families,” multiple publications quoted Deputy City Council Speaker Diana Ayala, whose district encompasses East River Plaza.

“The East Harlem store currently has another 17.5 years on its lease, according to the Blumenfeld Development Group,” according to a New York Amsterdam News story. “Target’s suggestion that crime is the reason for its decision to leave the East River Plaza is a sweeping and unfair characterization of our center and the entire East Harlem community, and to suggest that the safety of their employees and customers is threatened in East Harlem is an insult to everyone who is committed to this community,” the story quoted the developer.

David Blumenfeld, a principal at Blumenfeld Development Group, told Bloomberg that Target’s announcement was “business decision to move to small-format stores,”

The investigative newsletter Popular Information said that it had reviewed publicly available crime data for the stores in New York and San Francisco. “This data reveals that stores that are being closed have lower levels of theft than nearby stores that have remained open,” they wrote. “An analysis of the stores Target is shuttering in the Seattle area follows a similar pattern. This data suggests that factors other than crime are driving Target’s decisions.”