Oakland Target slated to close saw 105 calls to police this year

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/bay-area-target-closings-
oakland-crime-18391576.php

When it opened four years ago, Oakland’s only Target store was part of a
neighborhood revival in a scrappy part of downtown dominated by auto
dealerships and supply shops.

But this year it apparently became a casualty of rising crime that
resulted in more than 100 calls to 911. Now the department store and
pharmacy is among nine Targets across the country — including three in the
Bay Area — that are scheduled to close next month.

“This is gonna crush a lot of people,” said Francesca Narro, who was among
a dozen customers lined up outside the store Tuesday morning. Like many
residents, she finds the location convenient — right in the middle of Auto
Row, and within walking distance of the 19th and 12th Street BART
stations. Narro often stops by after dropping her child off at daycare.

The store at 2650 Broadway is set to shut its doors on Oct. 21, as are
eight other Target retailers in four states. Company representatives
blamed retail theft for the decision, saying it caused the store to lose
income while threatening the safety of employees and shoppers.

From Jan. 1 to Wednesday, police responded to 105 calls for service from
the 2650 Broadway location — for issues ranging from a hit-and-run
outside, to people behaving erratically, to loud arguments, to alarms
going off after hours, to burglaries, according to a law enforcement
source who reviewed the dispatch records.

“That’s pretty high, but that’s what we’re starting to see,” said Rachel
Michelin, president of the California Retailers Association. She noted
that Target has been “proactive in calling law enforcement” in an effort
to get a more accurate record of how much theft the stores are enduring.

Oakland has seen crime surging in many categories this year, including a
33% rise in robberies and a 39% increase in burglaries. On Tuesday, at
least 163 businesses went on strike, demanding state and federal resources
to combat crime. Many merchants were infuriated after city officials
missed a grant deadline for millions of state dollars to prevent organized
retail theft.

Staff in the Oakland city administrator’s office said they are “working
every day to strengthen community safety for our residents, small
businesses and visitors,” in a statement that included a list of recent
public safety efforts. Among them: more walking police patrols in merchant
corridors, a $2.5 million upgrade to the 911 system and a new grant
program to drive foot traffic in shopping districts.

Nonetheless, city leaders have faced scorching criticism, and pressure is
mounting.

“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,” spokespeople for Target said in a statement Tuesday that
announced the store closures.

Other retailers have said they were forced to close Bay Area stores due to
crime. Walgreens shuttered five San Francisco stores two years ago, though
the timing of the closures led city leaders to question the pharmacy
giant’s complaints about theft. In 2017 and 2019 Walgreens had announced
consolidation plans to shareholders, saying it would shut down hundreds of
stores nationwide.

In Oakland, the loss stings. The city has one Target to serve more than
400,000 residents, and one-third of the acreage and sales tax revenue from
a Target on the Emeryville border.

Opened in 2019, the two-floor 2650 Broadway store seemed to mirror the
life cycle of the city. It arrived as part of an effort to transform the
Valdez Triangle District into an urbane boulevard with housing over
storefronts. Construction cranes were crowding the downtown skyline,
making way for new housing, office towers and commercial projects.

Yet according to the company, the store is beset by a wave of thefts and
burglaries that has engulfed Oakland shopping corridors in recent months.

“It’s unfortunate,” Target customer Sean Moss said Tuesday as he and his
2-year-old daughter waited for the store to open. They had walked over to
shop after the girl’s dentist appointment, also lured by the central
location.

Despite their misgivings, Moss and Narro said they understand the
company’s rationale.

“I see people grabbing stuff” off the shelves, Narro said, adding that
thieves will feign as though heading for the cash register, then sneak out
the exit instead.

Spokespeople for Target said in the statement that the company had
invested in various security measures, including hiring guards, locking up
merchandise and training employees in self-protection and de-escalation.

Some of those strategies were on display Tuesday at the Oakland store,
where three guards in tactical vests huddled in a corner near the checkout
line, along with an employee in a yellow vest. Items such as toothpaste,
razors, deodorant, wipes and facial cleansers were locked in glass cases,
requiring customers to ring a bell for a store worker to open them. A
pickup truck from International Protective Service security company sat
parked outside.

But if the store was awash in protective infrastructure, it also bore
battle scars, with one of its front windows boarded up.

Reach Rachel Swan: rs...@sfchronicle.com


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