A target no more.
Retail giant Target is set to shutter its crime-riddled downtown Oakland store after police responded to 105 calls for smash and grab thefts and other incidents so far this year alone.
The big-box retailer also announced it will close nine stores on Oct. 21 because of smash and grab thefts and safety concern for employees and shoppers.
So far this year, Oakland Police responded to burglaries, hit-and-run incidents, fights and alarms going off at all hours at the downtown Oakland location, cops told The San Francisco Chronicle.
Eight of the nine stores are in flaship woke Western areas which have been plagued by drug addiction and crime: The San Francisco Bay area, Seattle and Portland.
The ninth store is in the East Harlem area of New York City.
“We cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests, and contributing to unsustainable business performance,” the Minneapolis-based chain said in a statement.
Concern over smash and grab crimes in Bay Area businesses has been so overwhelming that 163 business owners staged a one-day strike on Tuesday and closed their doors because lawlessness in the streets has become too much.
The two-floor Oakland location on 2650 Broadway was also looted in May 2020 during the community unrest over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white policeman in Minneapolis kneeled on his neck for several minutes.
Oakland’s crime rate has seen an 18% increase in robberies with 463 incidents so far this year compared to last, according to the latest data from Oakland Police. Burglaries have increased by 25% with 1,254 cases so far this year.
At the Tuesday protest in Oakland, dozens of business owners and residents showed up in front of Le Cheval restaurant on Clay Street in Oakland, according to FOX KTVU.
After 40 years in business, the Vietnamese restaurant is closing its doors because of the unrelenting crime.
Also plagued by troubles, said Derreck Johnson, owner of Home of Chicken and Waffles in Oakland, told Fox: “I had a group from Miami get robbed at gunpoint on a Saturday afternoon and had all their jewelry taken.”
Bay Area burglars have been so brazen that they smash-and-grab items out of parked cars in broad daylight.
Business owners and residents have criticized Oakland officials after they missed a deadline to submit an application that would have earmarked millions of dollars in state funds to local law enforcement to target organized retail crime.
Two other Targets locations in the Bay Area are also slated to close on Oct. 21 because of “theft and organized retail crime” that has contributed to unsustainable business performance, the company said in a statement.
Target officials said more than 150 locations will remain open in the cities where the closures are occurring.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
