Free Republic

Retailers say theft is exploding, and some data from retailers along with numerous videos of violent store robberies and looting seem to support the claim.But some retail analysts and researchers, bolstered by local crime statistics, say stores may be over-stating the extent and impact of theft. Why? It’s a useful deflection, camouflaging weak demand, mismanagement and other issues denting business right now. And it forces lawmakers to respond.Across the country, the “actual increase in rates of theft” at stores does not “correspond to the increase in company commentary and actions” on theft, according to a new report by retail analysts...

Six Target stores in San Francisco are adjusting their times, opening hours later and closing hours earlier to try to curtail soaring theft.They join Walgreens, which has closed 17 stores over five years in direct response to criminal activity. Last month, a video went viral of a hooded and masked man riding his bike into a San Francisco branch of the chain, loading a trash bag with merchandise, and riding back out — past a powerless security guard and two others filming on their phones.Early Monday evening, at least nine men and women smashed cases and stripped shelves in San...

Should we be worried if the stock market doesn’t seem to be? We get the oddest mixed signals from the economy sometimes, don’t we? In recent months, we have learned of 95 Ruby Tuesday restaurants that will be shutting their doors… and that Macy’s will be closing a hundred department stores… and that 255 Hancock Fabric stores will be closing… and that Sports Authority will close virtually all 450 of its locations… the list goes on and on. Every week, there’s another such announcement, and yet the Dow Jones Industrial Average keeps setting record highs. And so, some of us...

OK it's not Walmart, but it's a serious issue nevertheless. America needs to keep, start, build and GROW global companies right here in America. Stop this nonsense.

The owner of Cadillac Mountain Sports is closing his three downtown Portland stores, citing declining sales and little prospect for a turnaround because of the city's ban on chain store expansion in the area. Matthew Curtis said sales at his Portland stores ­ Cadillac Mountain Sports, Cadillac's Patagonia and Cadillac's The North Face ­ have been declining since he opened them in 2002. The city's "formula business" cap, Curtis said, represents "a slap in the face" that will prevent him and other retailers on Congress Street from creating the amount of foot traffic they need to increase sales. Curtis' decision...

Every well-traveled cosmop­olite knows that America is mind-numbingly monotonous—the most boring country to tour, because everywhere looks like everywhere else,” as the columnist Thomas Friedman once told Charlie Rose. Boston has the same stores as Denver, which has the same stores as Charlotte or Seattle or Chicago. We live in a “Stepford world,” says Rachel Dresbeck, the author of Insiders’ Guide to Portland, Oregon. Even Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall, she complains, is “dominated by the Gap, Anthropologie, Starbucks, and all the other usual suspects. Why go anywhere? Every place looks the same.” This complaint is more than the old worry,...

NANTUCKET, Mass. (AP) -- Nantucket joined several other historic tourist towns across the country in approving a measure that would ban chain stores from the island's downtown, a move endorsed by more than 480 residents at a town meeting. The rule would bar any new chains with more than 14 outlets that have standardized menus, trademarks, uniforms or other homogeneous decor from opening downtown. The ban would not affect gas stations, grocery stores, banks and other service providers. "I'm extremely gratified," said independent book seller Wendy Hudson, who proposed the ban. "I guess it feels validating ... people saw the...