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South Side {Chicago} residents upset by Walmart closure, community group fills the gap by handing out free food
Chicago Sun Times ^ | Apr 16, 2023 | Violet Miller

Posted on 04/17/2023 2:44:28 AM PDT by Salman

The shadow of Walmart’s logo and name hung above the Chatham Supercenter location on Sunday, its last day of operation, as dozens of shoppers streamed in to shop among increasingly empty shelves.

Less than a week ago, the company announced it would close its store at 8431 S. Stewart Ave. along with others in Little Village, Kenwood and Lakeview, saying they were “losing tens of millions” annually and that losses had doubled in the last five years.

The company also noted the $70 million it spent in recent years creating healthcare facilities at its city stores and the Walmart Academy training center, which were also set to close.

Myesha McGarner, a 30-year-old South Shore resident and regular shopper at the Chatham location, said she hadn’t realized it was closing until she entered to find empty shelves and a “ghostly” atmosphere.

She called the company’s explanation a “cop out” and “infuriating,” and said she thought the closures had more to do with the area’s history of disinvestment.

...

(Excerpt) Read more at chicago.suntimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: brandonjohnson; chicago; illinois; walmart
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To: digger48

It’s nice that the community stepped up and handed out free food.


It’s an empty, and very temporary, gesture. They won’t be doing it for long.


41 posted on 04/17/2023 4:46:28 AM PDT by rbg81
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

If only those shoppers had gotten their $5 million reparations checks and an annual guaranteed income of $97,000, they would have paid for all the goods in their shopping carts.


Nah. It will just embolden them to think everything should be free all the time.


42 posted on 04/17/2023 4:49:13 AM PDT by rbg81
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To: Adder

“Hmmm...apparently Walmart was de facto handing out free food...its just not sustainable.”

and speaking of the sustainability of handing out “free” food, how many days of “free” food will be sustained by the “community group filling the gap by handing out free food” before they run out of money for the “free” food?


43 posted on 04/17/2023 4:49:49 AM PDT by catnipman (In a post-covid world, ALL "science" is now political science: stolen elections have consequences)
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To: Salman

May 31, 2020

Walmart stores suffer damage from George Floyd protests and looting — several hundred forced to close early

https://www.yahoo.com/video/walmart-stores-suffer-damage-from-george-floyd-protests-and-looting-several-hundred-forced-to-close-early-011242738.html

Brian Sozzi·Executive Editor May 31, 2020, 9:12 PM·2 min read

Walmart (WMT) joins a growing list of retailers whose stores have been vandalized and looted amidst the George Floyd protests sweeping the U.S.

A Walmart spokesperson told Yahoo Finance that more than a dozen stores across the country have sustained damage from the violence (seen below, as an example). Several “hotspots” for the store damage include Minnesota and Dallas, says the spokesperson. Walmart operates more than 5,300 stores in the U.S., including 81 in Minnesota where the protests have been the most intense following the death of Floyd at the hands of a police officer.

The conditions on the ground at some stores led Walmart to close several hundred stores about one hour early on Sunday, the spokesperson added, so employees could return home safely. The majority of these stores are slated to reopen on Monday, provided it’s safe to do so.

LA and San Diego are literal dumpster fires. Check the upstanding citizens looting the Walmart. #LARiots #SanDiego #CaliforniaProtest pic.twitter.com/l0VG6bmtIh

Port Richmond Walmart is now being looted. Several people are stealing TVs and throwing it inside a car.

More looters are pulling up with their cars and looting. Police are moving in #PhillyRiots #PhillyProtest pic.twitter.com/Vd83vVX3Su

— Peter Planamente (@plana_journ) May 31, 2020

Walmart rival Target has also been hit hard by protests and looting, forcing it to take action as well. The discount retailer closed or adjusted hours at 200 stores over the weekend, a spokesperson told Yahoo Finance via email. Target operates 1,900 stores across the U.S, including 73 in Minnesota.

44 posted on 04/17/2023 4:51:31 AM PDT by linMcHlp
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To: SteelPSUGOP

“Economic ignorance.”

the ignorance problem is even broader than with economics, and accounts for automatic voting for the fascist democrats ... such ignorance results from a combination of deliberate policies that foster ignorant voters as well as community attitudes regarding personal effort ...


45 posted on 04/17/2023 4:53:23 AM PDT by catnipman (In a post-covid world, ALL "science" is now political science: stolen elections have consequences)
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To: catnipman

There you go again, spouting common sense. It’s a bad habit.


46 posted on 04/17/2023 4:55:25 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (I don’t like to think before I say something...I want to be just as surprised as everyone els)
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To: rbg81

Guess I forgot the /s tag in my comment


47 posted on 04/17/2023 4:55:40 AM PDT by digger48
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To: Erik Latranyi
As long as this woman and the many like her avoid reality, reality will keep chomping on her big butt.

What is amazing is that no one in her crowd has the intelligence or independence to think (yes, think) that "hey, mebbe we ain't doin' this reality thing right...mebbe there's another way."

48 posted on 04/17/2023 4:58:05 AM PDT by RoosterRedux (Bonhoeffer: “Silence in the face of evil is evil. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”)
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To: Salman

When you’re too backwards for a Walmart.


49 posted on 04/17/2023 4:58:48 AM PDT by Vision (Woke is communism and it has no place in America. Election Reform Now! Obama is an evildoer.)
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To: Salman
I'm guessing that Barnes & Noble doesn't have much of a problem with shoplifting in those neighborhoods.

Probably the safest place to go during a street riot.

50 posted on 04/17/2023 5:01:51 AM PDT by SamAdams76 (5,016,040 Truth | 87,429,920 Twitter)
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To: SaveFerris
No longer able to eat for free and shop for free at this particular WalMart.

No more five-finger discounts? That's racist!


51 posted on 04/17/2023 5:05:41 AM PDT by COBOL2Java (Gun laws empower criminals. Guns empower the people.)
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To: Salman

“She called the company’s explanation a “cop out” and “infuriating,” and said she thought the closures had more to do with the area’s history of disinvestment.”

Yeah right no one wants to make money. So open a store yourself and clean up.


52 posted on 04/17/2023 5:05:42 AM PDT by TalBlack (We have a Christian duty and a patriotic duty. God help us.)
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To: Salman

My daughter lived near the Kenwood neighborhood during the Covid shutdown. With all the little stores closed, the only store around to buy food was Walmart. They drove to Indiana to shop instead of risking it.


53 posted on 04/17/2023 5:08:42 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard ( Resist the narrative.)
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To: COBOL2Java

Nice. Democrats make everything better.

It’s so nice to see happy shoppers finding bargains!


54 posted on 04/17/2023 5:09:49 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: Salman

“...as dozens of shoppers streamed in to shop among increasingly empty shelves.”

Were they really shoppers or were they really looters and shoplifters?

If that demographic didn’t rob and loot the stores in their neighborhoods they wouldn’t have this problem.


55 posted on 04/17/2023 5:10:19 AM PDT by euram (allALL)
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To: catnipman

I suspect the community group handing out the free food is ultimately financed by the city or county.


56 posted on 04/17/2023 5:21:42 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard ( Resist the narrative.)
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To: Erik Latranyi

All stores are based on hardcore capitalism. You don’t make a profit....you don’t stay open.

Around a dozen years ago, I lived in the Arlington area. Someone pointed out to me...over the whole east side of DC, most of the grocery stores were shutdown. To buy groceries, you crossed over into Maryland or Virginia. Reason? Theft destroyed the business model that had existed for decades.

Same thing going on in SF/LA. Evolution is going on, and inner-city people will be cast aside.


57 posted on 04/17/2023 5:22:42 AM PDT by pepsionice
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To: napscoordinator

Would be worth an experiment.


58 posted on 04/17/2023 5:43:35 AM PDT by Eagles6 (Welcome to the Matrix . Orwell's "1984" was a warning, not an instruction manual.)
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To: Salman

How close is it to the Hussein hotel and bath house?


59 posted on 04/17/2023 5:53:33 AM PDT by Libloather (Why do climate change hoax deniers live in mansions on the beach?)
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To: SaveFerris

In these areas, more than half the time the food and merchandise never enter the building. It is stolen straight as it comes off the truck by employees and their cohorts waiting for the truck in the neighborhood..

This was a complaint of Walmart and other businesses in Indy who shut down stores in neighborhoods like this.

Some built those stores in a revitalize campaign and were repaid by being robbed blind.


60 posted on 04/17/2023 5:54:27 AM PDT by dforest (All of America has derailed.)
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