When Walmart Stores Inc. (WMT) announced last month it will close four stores in Chicago, the retail giant conspicuously omitted what people assumed was the real reason for its decision: crime.
And for good reason. Crime has been a growing political issue as conservatives accuse progressives of tolerating lawlessness in cities. And you can’t mention crime in urban areas without mentioning race and poverty: the narrative that black and brown people steal stuff from stores.
No sane company would want any part of that boiling pot of toxic partisan stew.
Which is why Target Corporation’s (TGT) decision to spotlight crime in its first quarter earnings report last week is so remarkable. The Minneapolis based company said retail "shrink" will cost it $500 million this year in profits. (Shrink describes loss of inventory due to a variety of causes including spoilage or damage, theft by individuals or employees as well as by organized retail crime gangs). And CEO Brian Cornell, who also called out violent crime, suggested Target might close stores because of this behavior.
Conservatives Now Cite Target in Criticizing Liberals
If Target wanted to draw attention to crime, the retailer succeeded in spades. So much so that conservatives, who only recently urged consumers to boycott Target for supporting LGBTQ causes, are now using the retailer as Exhibit A on how liberal mayors enable criminals.
“Progressives who run these cities blame the companies, but any CEO has to reduce losses that cost shareholders half a billion dollars a year,” a Wall Street Journal editorial Monday said. "The first duty of government is to provide for public safety.”
“This reveals a powerful culture of impunity that drives the market for retail theft,” the piece said. “It’s part of the political movement that has defined criminal behavior down so that it becomes more acceptable. In California, shoplifting is a misdemeanor unless the stolen goods are valued at more than $950. And even then it is rarely prosecuted or punished.”
The editorial concludes with a warning of “a widening culture of disorder and disdain for the law and the rules of a civilized society. All of this will get worse until voters stop tolerating the politicians who indulge criminals.”
We’re living in weird times, folks. with liberals defending big corporations (The Walt Disney Company (DIS)) from intrusive Republican-led government (Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida). And in this case, we have Target, known for its more progressive leanings, complaining about crime while Walmart, dominant in rural, red states, decides to tiptoe around the issue, at least in Chicago.
Minneapolis struggles with crime and civil rights
But Target’s public denunciation of crime carries more meaning. It was in Minneapolis, Target’s hometown, that a group of cops murdered George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, after arresting him for using a counterfeit bill. The killing sparked a wave of protests across the country, led by the Black Lives Matter movement, against police brutality.
In Minneapolis, the protests led to violence, including the very public looting of — you guessed it — a Target store near the city’s Uptown neighborhood.
Since then, Minneapolis has struggled with balancing public safety and civil rights. Amid calls to defund the police, the city has experienced a surge in property crime, especially juveniles stealing cars or catalytic converters underneath vehicles.
Voters elected a reform-minded public defender to lead the Hennepin County prosecutor’s office. But Mary Moriarty drew intense criticism after cutting a plea deal in a murder case in which two Black juveniles who committed the killing would not go to adult prison. In a rare move, Gov. Tim Walz removed Moriarty from the case.
It’s almost impossible to separate retail from politics these days. (Just ask CVS and Walgreens). So Target must have felt crime was such a bad problem that it was willing to wade into the issue. The only problem is that the retailer may have opened a Pandora’s box of societal ill that it can not control.
