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Rachel Stovall
Rachel Stovall
Don’t laugh, but this column started with a Facebook post. I cut and pasted a partial list of business closings on social media. 101 shares and (according to Facebook) a reach of 10k later, I realized my post had hit a political nerve.
The closings are not a secret. About 4,000 stores in 2023 and 2024 will be permanently closing. Many of these were big name retail outlets including Walmart.
I wondered aloud on the post if the closings were an indicator of the market going online vs. in person retail. However, according to Forbes only 20% of shopping will be done online in 2024.
Hardly a seismic shift in retail.
However, negative response to my post was so one-sided, I knew that there had to be a reason. Democrats at once disputed the data as being untrue. Even when I posted left-leaning media outlets saying how and why many stores were closing.
Readers kept assigning blue or red states to the store closings even though I took care to remove geographical and political party references in the post. Then, Facebook fact checkers declared my post to be partially false.
I was dumbfounded. This was just a business update. We can still talk about business — right?
According to CNN online (and many other media outlets) the reasons that some store chains closed (and are closing) include difficulty keeping workers, overestimated demand, people working from home, and crime/public safety concerns. The item most talked about politically on that list is crime.
In 2022, crime was the issue that showed up in every election, not only nationally but in Colorado. That interest has continued into 2024.
At the end of 2023, Fortune told us, “For the last three years, shopkeepers across America have been up in arms about the alleged crime wave that has gripped the nation’s cities. The National Retail Federation recently called for a federal crackdown on retail crime, saying, “retailers are seeing unprecedented levels of theft coupled with rampant crime in their stores, and the situation is only becoming more dire.”
Alleged crime? I think not — the crime wave in retail across the country, and Colorado is all too real.
Retail analysts Dylan Carden and Phillip Blee said in a report to CNN a few months ago, “To be sure, theft is impacting retailers much more than it was before the pandemic. That’s because theft has also gotten more visible and more violent, retailers say, and has put employee safety at risk in some cases.
Closer to home, Christopher Howes of the Colorado Retail Council told The Denver Gazette, “Unfortunately, it’s getting worse than ever. It’s more violent than ever. We estimate that it’s costing (Colorado) retailers up to a billion dollars a year in lost product.”
Howes also told CBS news about smash and grab crime at retail outlets in Denver: “To have this breakdown, culturally, where people can just storm into a store and take what they want is a breakdown in civil society we need to focus on.”
No wonder that stores are closing. Many Democrat-run cities such as Denver have a citizen-led backlash to criminal friendly policymaking. The backlash that could change election outcomes.
Yet I have to conclude that crime was not what bothered readers about closing stores.
Edited for length, here’s what I posted.
We’re doing great, right? Walgreens is closing 900 stores. Bed Bath & Beyond is closing its remaining 360 stores. Dollar Tree is closing 1,000 stores. Foot Locker is closing 400 stores. Burger King is closing 400 stores. Regal Cinemas has closed 429 movie theaters. Kroger grocery chain has closed 413 stores.
All because the economy is so wonderful.
The latest polls show that 65% of voters rate the economy as good during Trump’s presidency, compared with 38% under Biden. The economy is on most citizens’ last nerve.
People feel the ripple effect from the slowdown in national and state economy. That’s why seeing well-known brands close nationally and in Colorado causes discomfort to voters on the left.
Brian Lewandowski, executive director of the Business Research Division at the Leeds School of Business told The Denver Gazette recently, “Colorado has a higher inflation rate and higher costs of living that might have a bigger impact on consumer spending. There’s also a higher property tax bill this year that could hit both homeowner’s and renter’s disposable income. It could slow down retailing even further.”
That’s not good news in an election year. I guess in Colorado we keep hoping that our lawmakers will do something to decrease crime or stimulate the economy. But in a Democrat-dominated state I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Colorado Dems like crisis so much that they are creating it.
Rachel Stovall is an event manager, entertainer and community advocate.
Rachel Stovall is an event manager, entertainer and community advocate.
Rachel Stovall
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