Free Republic

It's no secret that U.S. drugstore landscape has been consolidating at a jarring pace now that the pandemic has passed. Rite Aid (RAD) - has been reportedly toying with the possibility of filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy and liquidating many of its stores. It currently has some $3.3 billion in debt. The proposed deal would permanently shutter 400 to 500 of the chain's current 2,100 stores and hand them over to creditors or other interested buyers. With the the pandemic now firmly behind us and brick-and-mortar retail at a crawling recovery pace compared with more robust corners of the market, drugstores...

The stories are everywhere: Walmart store closures in Portland and Chicago; an epidemic of drug store thefts in New York. In Baltimore, a “landmark” grocery store shuts its doors after nearly 25 years in a community desperate for fresh food. While in San Francisco, reports of big-box chains abandoning its downtown have become near-daily occurrences. The cause: rampant, often organized, and seemingly consequenceless shoplifting. Indeed, the US is deep in what many are calling an epidemic of thefts that cost retailers nearly $100 billion in 2021. And this epidemic is impacting both the bottom lines and operational strategies of massive...

The problem of rampant shoplifting at San Francisco drug stores, grocery stores and retail stores has become obvious to everyone at this point. And yet, as Beege noticed this morning on Twitter, you still have reports like this one from NBC News about the “perception of crime,” as if the crime isn’t real, it’s just a misperception.In a report for NBC on the closing of San Francisco's Westfield Mall, correspondent Miguel Almaguer claims it's merely the "perception of crime" as the reason the mall is closing. pic.twitter.com/uzg1eoYng7— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) June 14, 2023It is fair to say that violent crime...

A nationwide shoplifting epidemic is crippling the finances of brick-and-mortar retailers, who warn that they may be forced to raise prices or even shutter stores in order to offset tens of billions of dollars in lost inventory. The National Retail Foundation is estimating that it lost $94.5 billion last year due to “shrink” — an industry term that means lost inventory — which is being blamed primarily on shoplifting, according to The Wall Street Journal.