(PM.) A Portland, Oregon clothing store permanently closed last week after a wave of robberies that left the store damaged and without the financial resources to carry on, and the owner says that Democratic Mayor Ted Wheeler is doing “nothing for the root cause of the problem.”
Rains, a European designer outerwear brand, only had four locations across the US. Now, the only store in the state of Oregon is closed after owner Marcy Landolfo saw her business undergo its fifteenth break-in in just a year and a half. According to a KATUreport, she’s at her “breaking point.”
Landolfo says that she has to pay for the repairs out of pocket, and often just left the broken storefront windows boarded up. After a string of five break-ins in about three weeks, she had had enough.
“It’s just too much with the losses that are not covered by insurance, the damages, everything. It’s just not sustainable,” Landolfo said.
“The products that are being targeted are the very expensive winter products and I just felt like the minute I get those in the store they’re going to get stolen,” she continued.
According to Landolfo, the losses were just too much to bear.
“The problem is, as small businesses, we 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.
When Rains was robbed again last month, KATU reported that Mayor Wheeler’s office claimed to be working on a plan to provide financial aid to business owners who needed to repair their criminal-damaged shops, and also said they recently participated in a retail safety summit. To Landolfo, that’s not enough.
“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.
The Post Millennial’s Andy Ngo shared a notice posted on the front of the store, notifying customers of its closure due to the “unrelenting criminal behavior,” “coupled with escalating safety issues for our employees.””
Our city is in peril. 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,” the sign read.
“Please be vigilant in voting to make our city safe again.”
Rains, a designer outerwear store in #Portland, announced it has shut down due to “constant, & unrelenting, criminal behavior, coupled w/escalating safety issues for our employees.” Many businesses there have closed following the BLM-Antifa riots that decimated police numbers. pic.twitter.com/l18MaDeLoZ
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) November 27, 2022
