DC: Rampant Shoplifting May Lead To Grocery Store Closures, Areas Becoming Food Deserts
How’s that Justice Reform Working Out? Spending $300 million for security “did not derail the people from stealing. In fact, the regional manager told us that people will have stuff in their carts walking straight through the door–straight through the door!”
I’m old enough to remember when Democrats were very upset about food deserts and complained that there weren’t enough grocery stores in underprivileged areas, that minorities were unable to access healthy, affordable food. But that’s so last decade.
Now Democrats are all about “criminal justice reform,” and this seems to mean letting criminals run wild, committing their crimes with impunity. For some reason known only to themselves, Democrats are fine with the results of their going all-in on lawlessness and rampant crime, including the seemingly intentional creation of “food deserts.”
There are only 4 grocery stores east of Anacostia in Washington DC. Now one might close because of shoplifting. Giant loses $500k–20% of sales–to thieves monthly. Spends $300k more on security. Trying to reduce shoplifting by closing early. From @7NewsDC https://t.co/qxgZrLPFmm
— Byron York (@ByronYork) August 12, 2023
Concerns are growing in Washington, D.C. about some major grocery stores being able to keep their doors open due to shoplifting.
During a news conference Friday, D.C. Councilman Trayon White said he spoke to the regional management of a popular Giant Food store on Alabama Avenue Southeast.
“We had the opportunity to meet with some of the leadership of this Giant,” White said. “Some of the regional leadership at this Giant, what we heard was disheartening. We learned that this Giant has lost over $500,000 in product loss, which is about 20% of the sales. We know it’s tough times and we know the price of food has skyrocketed in the last three years. But we cannot afford to hurt ourselves by constantly taking it from the store. It means that everybody is going to be without a place to eat. And enough is enough.”
. . . . It’s one of only four major grocery store locations east of the Anacostia River. And if this store closes its doors, White warned the impacts would be devastating and create a food desert for some D.C. residents.
. . . . “We also learn that Giant’s leadership has spent over $300,000 in security,” said White. “But that did not derail the people from stealing. In fact, the regional manager told us that people will have stuff in their carts walking straight through the door — straight through the door! With grocery carts full. We have to build bridges for people. But taking from this store is taking from yourself. We are home to seniors and elders who have to eat at this store.”
It doesn’t sound like DC’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, has any plans to make this store more secure or to arrest shoplifters and get them off the streets.
WJLA continues:
Since then, 7News asked Mayor Muriel Bowser and MPD what they are doing to help with the shoplifting issues at grocery stores.
“Mayor Bowser continues to lead conversations with a variety of stakeholders across our city to discuss public safety, and more specifically to ask the question of how we can partner to reduce crime and increase conditions so that everyone in our city can thrive,” the mayor’s office told 7News in a statement. “The District is committed to ensuring every resident has safe access to fresh, healthy and affordable food.”
Leading conversations and asking questions. That’ll work.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Will these Amish terrorists never learn? They destroy their own neighborhoods and then complain that there is racism because there are no stores for them to shoplift in.
Amish? Didn’t you see Blazing Saddles?
It’s the damn Methodists!
Not the Irish?!?
I thought it’s the Latvians.
We all know that these problems are caused by former slaves. When America bought Liberia for former slaves there was a vigorous discussion about sending all former slaves there. Looking at what we have today, I wonder if that would have been best for everyone.
I down-voted you. My problem is that your response greatly oversimplifies the issue These problems may be caused largely by descendants of former slaves. But I don’t think that the issue is their skin color or the history of their ancestors so much as the legacy of their “race.” They have received the short end of the stick for a long, long time. It’s true that they do not seem to understand, as a population (not talking about the successful individuals) how to dig their way out. It’s frustrating. Uncle Sam keeps giving handouts. The population keeps taking. Drugs and poor schools hurt. Broken families are a scourge. The descendants of former slaves have a unique history in the US. No other group of people was involuntarily brought to the New World. Shipping them to Liberia would have been wrong then, as it is wrong now. Getting them off the dole and improving their schools, etc., is the right step. There are ways to do that. But Big Government is not that way.
I don’t buy that they received short stick, while slavery was demeaning, they were better off in America than they would have been in Africa. Slaves were for the most part like children in adult bodies. While not as bad today, the same is true now. I suggest that people should read historical documents about slaves and their mentality. At least some former slave owners recognized that freed slaves needed to be looked after, and did so.
It would have been a heck of a lot better if those southern plantation owners had decided to use some other method of picking their cotton than importing blacks to do the job. If they had done that and left the blacks in Africa we’d certainly be a heck of a lot better off today than we are.
bu-bu-but d’ gubbmint gonna take care o’ me
The store might consider hiring a half-dozen young Sikh men as security guards. Arm them with appropriate wooden staves — not too heavy, not too light. Might double their security costs for a while. Might be worth it.
They might be able to start a subscription video-streaming service and turn a profit… I’d pay money to see some more righteous beat downs like the one from last week.
I watched it about ten times. That brazen thug deserved every whack. I read somewhere the customer commenting in the background was himself a store owner in Stockton who was robbed.
I have applied for a $1 MM federal grant to determine the optimal stave dimensions. How do you balance off weight v. speed to get the best result. Will publish my results here after I get the grant and complete my studies.
At one time, the Baltimore-DC corridor also had an HIV infection rate that looked like Africa. The solution then, as now, was to get the local churches involved.
The thieves may not be churchgoers, but the probably have family who are.
“Bring in the thieves, bringing in the thieves, we shall come rejoicing bringing in the thieves”. “Thou shalt not steal” doesn’t hold the same value when nothing is valued.
The black matriarchal one parent household model isn’t working. The solutions needed mean coming to grips with their failures and that cannot happen or cannot be seen. Any solution smacks of “white supremacy”.
Neither is the white matriarchal single mother household nor for any other ‘race’. The children in single mother homes are at every statistical disadvantage compared to children from two parent homes. Yet for decades women keep choosing to create this situation for their children by prioritizing their happiness over the well being of their children.
As you point out, this is not a racial issue….but it is as the blacks have led the way in numbers and speed… with every other segment following the trend. Uncle Sugar stepped in as the non-judgmental surrogate husband/rich family member making it easier to skip any commitment. It’s all acceptable now.
It is a racial issue as many in the black community see past persecution as a justification for criminal behavior today. Backed by the media and Silicon Valley.
Poor whites can’t claim that.
“Happiness’ rather than “contentment.” Narcissism over family and community. Selfishness over decency, honor and respect. Godlessness over belief in some higher power or duty. The women did it, The men facilitated it and are guilty, as well. And I’m not sure there is any way out. No one can afford to buy a house without two incomes (or college, unless Joe forgives the loan) and the Western birthrate is generally below replacement level. How do you put that genie back in the bottle? (All of this said, I believe women should have a right to pursue a career, etc.) Parents should go back to teaching boys what it means to be a man. a husband and a father, and girls to be a woman, a wife and a mother. Neither role is easy or perfect, nor is life. But those roles are the most valuable and often the most rewarding. The effects of the decline of the family–divorce, broken families, poverty–are worth trying to avoid.
Since women initiate 75%+ of divorce filing and up to 90% when posting a 4 year degree or higher I’m not seeing a way to argue proportional liability on family destruction or lack of family creation. This is, in the modern era, overwhelmingly on women not men.
Add to this the fact that women choose whether, when and with whom sexual intercourse occurs. Choosing some irresponsible but ‘hot’ dude to hook up with for a one night stand or engage in a casual sexual relationship with then acting surprised when that irresponsible dude doesn’t stick around during pregnancy/after the birth of the child seems like deliberate delusion.
Both these subsets of women are attempting to make themselves into a victim v the reality which is that they exercised free will, made a series of choices but don’t want to shoulder the consequences of their choices.
You’ve really got some kind of thing against women, Chief. Not my favorite thing about you, to be honest.
“The black matriarchal one parent household model isn’t working.”
Bullshite it isn’t. Has kept the blacks right where the democrats want them. On the plantation utterly dependent on federal government largess to survive.
One the store closes, there will be “peaceful” protests complaining about racism. Of course.
Cities have lots of open space as a result of the nature of people in them. how about a system where people are required to raise and process their own food. It starts with mandatory work, and results. Food distribution on a daily basis, with immediate reduction in quantity & desirability. One of my children was acting up, stomped their foot, belligerently announced that I had already taken all her gadgets, and that there was nothing else I could do to them. The fight was over school work.
When supper time came they received a one # block of tofu, green beans and water. Boy were they mad, announcing that the meal was abuse, and then received a lesson about how nutritious the meal was. When they become to big to paddle, one has to find other means 🙂
No one under 18 is too big for a righteous kick in the ass, or a leather strap. Period.
Don’t anyone say this is child abuse. If someone doesn’t like how I discipline my children, they can pay for their food, clothing, and a roof over their head.
Communist Cild Protective Services, if they show up at my door, can take the kids with them. I don’t want them back. The kids will then quickly realize how they screwed themselves.
My three kids were so bad one day, my wife called me at work. I came home and threw them out of my house and told them to find another place to live, and I didn’t care where.
The now doctor, lawyer, and engineer talk about that day still.
During the COVID hysteria/panic, I vaguely recall allegations that a vaccine location in Florida was placed too far from a community dominated by minorities and, therefore, minorities were being denied equal access to the vaccine. Florida then disclosed that to get the vaccine out quickly and broadly, it had contracted with a large pharmacy chain. That chain used all of its locations, I believe, to provide vaccinations. But it didn’t have one any closer to this particular minority-dominated community. Did anyone ask why? Of course not. (The headlines went out: “Racism.”)
Everyone in that photo looked well fed so groceries are getting to them. DC is not yet S. Sudan yet but they are working on it. In the meantime, indict Donald Trump some more.
Painful lessons produce corrected behavior, but only if the target for behavior correction is capable of learning.
We all know about doing the same action repeatedly and expecting different results.
If you like Neil Oliver this 10 minute bit is a must.
– https://youtu.be/2COPif3HnMg
In addition to building a border wall, we should be putting them up around these cities.
Around DC first, while all the fed criminals are in session. Siege. Nothing in, nothing out.
There was a very good reason for red-lining. It didn’t pop up out of nowhere and banks would do anything to make a buck off of anyone, if they could.
But for the majorities who voted for Bowser and the city council and all the democrat lowlife traitors … they deserve what they get. And I deserve to be rid of them. A national divorce is the only real solution to all this.
The problem is right now EVERY resident has “safe access to fresh, healthy and affordable food.”
Problem is: that’s not the way it’s supposed to work. Only residents who can afford to pay can expect fresh, healthy and affordable food.
Of course, the questions being asked is why can’t stores keep their doors open and continue to give away food for free. How can DC help you with that, good sirs?
It’s simple. Provide transportation to areas where they arrest shoplifters and presumably there is still food to buy.
Oh by all means. Destroyed your own neighborhood? Let us give you a ride to ours so you can start destroying it as well. Then you can start blaming us for the “disparities in incarceration” which result and we can start the whole cycle all over again.
Or, you can stay where you are. Start defending your own neighborhood and protecting your food source from the irresponsible and criminal elements who enjoy free-reign there now. Grow up and rebuild your neighborhood/society, that way you may not be so eager to destroy it next time your hormones are roaring or whatever.
Except those areas are also subject to harassment by local radical leftist politicians and media and can’t arrest them.
Giant’s spending an additional $300 million on security seems out of scale. That is almost the entire yearly expenditure for Mrs, Obama’s hair relaxers.
What does increasing conditions mean? I partner with steak eaters in axing this question.
Later, it says $300,000. That’s excessive for one store, but believable. The sub-headline is wrong.
They’ll really do ANYTHING other than just arrest the criminals, won’t they?
To hell with all of them. This is what they voted for, this is what they WANT.
Not my concern. Enjoy your food deserts, courtesy of the ‘urban youths’.
It’s embarrassing that our nation’s capital has turned into a third world dump. The government should take over the city and restore order. Not legal, you say? Our open borders aren’t legal. Non-citizen voting isn’t legal.
It being D.C. it would in fact be perfectly legal.
It IS our nation’s capitol, however the government IS NOT of our nation and is on the side of those destroying it.
Subotai Bahadur
“Food desserts?” I thought that desserts are food. What’s the big deal about …
Umm, what? One “s”? Oh, I get it. Never mind.
Well, soon they’ll get just deserts.
Heh.
I second your “heh.”
Food Desserts?
Origin: from a quote attributed to Marie Antoinette regarding a food shortage among the poor.
“The peasants have no bread? Then let them eat cake.”
Something that rarely gets noticed is that many/most of these criminals have food stamps or some similar program, and don’t need to steal.
But they sell the SNAP cards for … other things. They don’t use them to buy food.
My point exactly.
Welcome to Joe “The Big Guy” Biden’s America.
So cry me an effing river that the blacks in D.C. are now facing a “food desert” because blacks couldn’t act civilized and stop their thuggery and thieving and the local supermarket. Don’t care. Too effing late to worry about the consequences now.. But oh no, these poor blacks. What are they going to do now that they’ve effectively bankrupted the only grocery store in the area. Screw ’em. The only upside is that the blacks are being honest why Giant is leaving. Not because of “racism”. Or “discrimination”. Or whatever else but because blacks have ripped them off for 500K or more so far. So no, I don’t give a rat’s back end if they close. blacks only have themselves to thank for it. And that’s the truth.
Would public whippings help? Remember that these people demand respect, often will murder over not receiving unearned respect.
Ackkkkkkk!
Specter of racism and plantation whipping!!!!
We can’t have that, now, can we? It would hurt their fragile psyche.
I work in NW DC at a grocery chain. The Walmart a few blocks away closed down because they couldn’t turn a profit with the cost of security and shoplifting. Our sales went up due to that which is great for us – not necessarily the local population. We have 2 other DC units, one of which does approx $40M a year in sales. They lose money every single month due to the cost of security AND the shoplifting that still occurs. $40M in sales and can’t make a profit. The people who complain about food desserts are the ones who cause them. Nearly 100% of the shoplifters we catch are African Americans even though they are only perhaps 20 – 25% of the clientele.
Fastsigns can make you a “Whites Only” sign for $14.99. Even with the civil rights fines added in, your bottom line will almost certainly still improve.
Ahh, yes. The days of freedom of contract.
Our local store went to a policy of selling deli food at the counter and only handing it over after it had been purchased. I told the store manager that he was going to have to fire one of the four workers since 25% of the food they made was no longer being stolen. I think that he had already worked out those numbers on his own.
Get out of the city.
“we know the price of food has skyrocketed in the last three years”
What thing that happened in the last three years could possibly be responsible for that?
add in the cost of fertilizer and diesel to bring the food to market
Let’s Go Brandon…
Net neutrality.
Then none of this matters as Net Neutrality killed us.
I cringe when I hear “stakeholders”. Just a fancy term for self-appointed busybodies who don’t have anything invested. The only “stakeholders” that matter are the stores’ owners and their PAYING customers.
But the term is attributable to Mayor Bowser, not any sort of a capitalist. All governments have ARE stakeholders, your definition and all.
Maybe enforcing the law might have been a good idea, Too bad I guess, but I can’t even being to feel sorry for these people.
Laws were written by white people and are thusly racist.
https://wtop.com/dc/2023/08/dc-council-member-calls-for-southeast-giant-to-remain-open-despite-theft-and-violence-concerns/
As far as Giant’s stated worries about safety and the need to run a profitable store,
———————–
community advocate Jo Patterson
———————–
said the losses can’t compare with the revenue the store has made in the community.
“Multiply it times 10, how many years that you’ve gotten rich off of our communities, and subtract those dollars from the [lost] dollars,” Patterson said.
———————-
I say if it’s really that profitable then deed the store over to community whiner jo patterson and let her run it. Leave a couple hundred bucks worth of cheese and bread to get her started.
When stores toying with “social justice” brag about how much they “give back to the community,” never let them forget what sort of ingratitude they receive from that community for doing it.
Our local nature-type chain had a huge BLM sign in front to distract from the fact that they served maybe one or two black customers a day. I guess black people don’t like $5 apples.
Walmart closed the two stores within the Portland city limits. That finally got someone’s attention. Our local chain Fred Meyer which is owned by Krogers finally decided to act. The problem was two fold, in that if they caught shoplifters, it took forever to get a police response and then they were let go anyway by the Soros prosecutor. If I heard it correctly, Freddies announced that they were simply going to start closing Portland stores. I have no idea what arrangements took place, but each store now has (4) Blackwater type security guards when open, and they are checking receipts. The extremely desperate still try it (I think drugs may be affecting their reality), but they rarely get away with anything now. The whole neighborhood has gotten a lot better since they stopped feeding the rats. We were a bit worried that this might lead to a huge uptick in break-ins, but so far that hasn’t materialized. I am out and about a lot and haven’t been hassled, but then again, maybe I am known as someone not to mess with. They might be feeding them somewhere more remote from the taxpayer base, dunno, don’t care as long as I see fewer of them. And this was before that incident of the doctor getting clocked in the noggin by a feral tossed water bottle all caught on a street cam. Dems are finally feeling some heat and seeing some writing on the wall (though with a banana republic mail-in election they will still be in power). But people might then start to question even that.
give them free soylent green
Produced from those who murder and those they murdered.
Ah, so they’ve finally found a way to make food deserts an actual thing.
This is all BullSchiff.
Food deserts my ass. I lived out West in a rural community where the nearest grocery store was 9 miles away.
There is not a single place in DC that isn’t further than 4 miles, to include Prince George’s County, Montgomery County, Arlington, Alexandria and others.
Close the stores, and the Dindoo and Dinsee tribes can shop for food like rural shoppers out West.
If they have to scratch the ground for food, they won’t have time to do anything else less productive.
What good is having grocery stores around if you get shot trying to walk to one, anyway?
Lawlessness is designed to bring Revolution
Karl Marx out front should have told you so
We are watching the collapse of civil society. As the family goes so goes the culture. Much of it facilitated by welfare policy. I feel bad for the innocents who will be greatly inconvenienced once the store closes. And once that happens Democrats will crawl out of their holes to blame either corporate greed or systemic racism. But these are the same people who were just arguing for defunding police and closing prisons! And this is the party that believes boys can be girls and men can menstruate and get pregnant. It’s a departure from reality and one giant step back into darkness. We are beyond politics and the only fix at this point is to send in the missionaries.
The only solution at this point is dissolution – of the country.
There is actually a sound economic reason to put a mega-store or supermarket in a ghetto and take a loss on it.
If you don’t, the local population will take mass transit or a car (yes, many of them have cars, even if old ones) to any of a number of such stores in adjacent areas, and then wreak havoc on them too. Then instead of suffering losses on one store, you suffer it at several.
This is what did in a number of shopping malls/centers across the country. Poor black patrons came out from the inner city, and caused vandalism, harassed patrons, and massively shoplifted. This drove away customers, resulting in the closing of the mall.
The supermarket may want to rethink the closure.
America does not have a race problem, America has a problem race. Period.
Arrest, prosecute, incarcerate.
At least you’re honest about your racism.
More, he’s honest about reality.
Cultural Marxism is pushing a big part of this.
Seem many videos of a person, sometimes multiple people walking in a store only to destroy the place not necessarily taking anything?
What pops up not a minute after posting this, a video example
https://tinyurl.com/ynanbzxb
There is a cost to society here. The innocent people here will increasingly turn to crap food: McDonald’s, etc. Just means more health problems, more diabetes, more burden on society. Solutions: Police the community. Lock up the criminals. Given them hard time. I am reminded of George Bush’s reference to the “soft bigotry of low expectations.” Expect more. Enough already.
The solution is simple if you just think outside the box. DC needs to pass a law making it illegal to close a store (or reduce store hours) once a store has been opened. You’re welcome.
You don’t say! I have no doubt the DC politicians won’t blame it on their policies, but on “white supremacy”!
Half the Wal Marts in the Chicago metro area were closed. The crying and whining was monumental. It got even worse when the affected neighborhood realized the jobs were leaving too.
more like an IQ desert
If I could I’d close my business down. If for no other reason than I don’t want to be surrounded by, see or deal with people of that decrepit morality.