by Stephen Green, PJ Media:
Discount retail giant Walmart is only the half the giant it once was in Chicago, saying this week that it will shutter four of its eight locations there. The Washington Post says the move signals “urban struggles.”
Outgoing mayor Lori Lightfoot, who has overseen a massive spike in murder and other crimes, said in a statement, “Unceremoniously abandoning these neighborhoods will create barriers to basic needs for thousands of residents.”
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According to Walmart’s official statement, their eight locations “lose tens of millions of dollars a year.” The company has apparently never made a profit at its Chicago locations. “The remaining four Chicago stores continue to face the same business difficulties,” the statement reads, “but we think this decision gives us the best chance to help keep them open and serving the community.”
Translation: If closing half our stores doesn’t quickly drive traffic to the survivors, we’ll have to shutter them, too.
Honestly though, I’m more interested in WaPo reporter Jaclyn Peiser’s skewed take than I am in any problems Walmart has in one of the nation’s most violent cities.
Peiser compared Walmart’s troubles to Home Depot’s, noting “that shoppers are feeling the strain of inflation and continuing to cut discretionary spending from their budgets” and that “Both companies are seen as bellwethers for consumer behavior.”
OK, fair enough — but after that, Peiser’s story goes off the rails, mentioning that “Whole Foods closed its flagship store in downtown San Francisco” on Monday. We don’t know if Whole Foods was losing money at its massive (and pricey) Market Street location. Most retail stores don’t start making money until they’ve been in business for at least a year, and that Whole Foods flagship store had barely been open for a single year.
