A small business owner in Portland, Oregon, was forced to permanently close her shop after a string of break-ins left the clothing store no longer financially sustainable.
Marcy Landolfo, the owner of Rains PDX, wrote in a note posted to the front of the store that she hasn’t received any financial reimbursement since the third robbery, explaining that due to the “constant … criminal behavior, coupled with escalating safety issues for our employees,” she has decided to permanently close.
“Our city is in peril,” the shop owner wrote. “Small businesses (and large) cannot sustain doing business, in our city’s current state. We have no protection, or recourse, against the criminal behavior that goes unpunished. Do not be fooled into thinking that insurance companies cover losses. We have sustained 15 break-ins … we have not received any financial reimbursement since the 3rd.”
After the series of break-ins, including five in three weeks, Rains PDX owner told KATU 2 said the shop “cannot sustain those types of losses and stay in business.”
“I won’t even go into the numbers of how much has been out of pocket,” she said, adding that thieves have targeted very expensive winter products.
“I just felt like the minute I get those in the store they’re going to get stolen,” she added.
The Democrat Mayor Ted Wheeler has not done enough to address crime in the city, despite his office saying after a Rains break-in last month that it was working on a plan to financially help business owners who need to repair their shops, per KATU 2.
“Paying for glass that’s great, but that is so surface and does nothing for the root cause of the problem, so it’s never going to change,” she said.
This is an “everyone” problem, she said, and everyone needs to find a way to get Portland’s crime under control.
“People want to politicize it. But let’s leave politics out of it,” said Landolfo. “No matter where you sit on the political spectrum, I think we can all agree that criminal behavior is criminal behavior and should not be tolerated.”
Other companies in the city have already made the same decision or are considering doing so. Margulis Jewelers closed its doors after 90 years in Portland citing crime and the downtown clutter. Starbucks closed 3 of its locations in the city. And just last week Said Salt & Straw they can move their headquarters out of Portland.
Watch the video report below for more details: