Store Closings, Inflation, and Crime Blast Off in 2024

Store Closures Due to Pro-Criminal & Inflationary Policies

According to a recent The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll, more companies declared bankruptcy and shut down operations this year, citing inflation and high costs. Shoplifting is part of the high costs.

Unfortunately, inflation will blast off due to other factors as well: wars, tariffs, Red Sea attacks, and shipping container rates.

According to Corsesight Research, over 4,600 stores closed in 2023, an 80% increase from the previous year. Other stores always manage to open, of course, but the stores closing are the stores that have had the most stability.

A recent analysis from CoreSight Research, retailers are closing nearly 3,200 stores this year, a 24% increase from 2023, CBS News reported. That’s 24% over an 80% increase in store closures.

According to CoreSight, here are just a few of the retail closures so far in 2024:

• CVS Health (315)
• Eleven (272)
• Rite Aid (165)
• Walgreens Boots Alliance (77)
• Macy’s (51)
• Burlington Stores (39)
• Foot Locker (36)
• Carter’s (30)
• Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (22)
• Best Buy (9)

These residents are angry at Safeway for closing, but crime is rampant under Democrat crime policies. Their anger is justified but misplaced.

Dummies like Ayanna Pressley encourage illogical, ideological thinking, ignoring facts and reality.

The San Fran Solution

San Francisco wants to force grocery stores to give six months’ notice before closing or being sued by citizens, and they want the grocery store to find a replacement. It’s true. The bill is ready to go.

Two progressive San Francisco lawmakers are pushing a bill that would allow residents in the crime-ravaged city to sue grocery stores that close up shops if they don’t give six months’ notice.

San Francisco Board of Supervisors members Dean Preston and Aaron Peskin’s proposal is called The Grocery Protection Act. It is based on a proposal the board approved in 1984 that was vetoed by then-San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein. They are ignoring the cause of the rash of retail theft: the city’s drug and homelessness crisis, which has led to several business closures.

Whole Foods closed its Market Street location last year after there were 568 emergency calls lodged in a 13-month period due to incidents such as vagrants throwing food, yelling, fighting, and attempting to defecate on the floor, according to the New York Times. At least 14 arrests were made at the location.

Progressive policies did this.

Unfettered crime is unconscionable, but she thinks it’s Safeway’s fault:

If you wanted to destroy capitalism, wouldn’t you destroy all the brick-and-mortar stores first? Just asking.

Wokesters Think This Is the Time to Burden Store Owners Even More

In California, Woke Gov. Newsom raised the minimum wage for low-level jobs, forcing thousands of businesses to close because they couldn’t afford to stay open.

No more Arbys.

Joe and his progressive Democrat handlers are building back better.

The Other Factors

Consumer Goods Prices will increase this year, particularly around the holiday season.

Joe Biden announced in May that Washington would enact punitive tariffs of $18 billion on Chinese goods, including electric vehicles, battery parts, and solar cells.

In April, Biden threatened to triple a 7.5% tariff rate on China steel and raise the aluminum tariffs to 25%.

As a result, China is rushing goods to the US, but it doesn’t have enough shipping containers, and shipping rates are at a two-year high.

Attacks in the Red Sea weaken global trade and increase the cost of goods.

The war with Russia is extremely expensive, and it looks like costs will be meaningless as threats of nuclear war abound.

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