Current Events > Community leaders protest Walmart closing stores in 4 Chicago cities.

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https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/4/13/23681858/south-siders-slam-walmart-protests-chatham-supercenter-pfleger

South Siders slam Walmart over plan to close stores, threaten protests at other Walmarts

Community leaders at the Chatham Supercenter question the abrupt announcement of four Walmart closures this weekend: If theyre going to walk out on us, were going to walk out on them.

Ever since the South Side Walmart Supercenter in Chatham opened, Frankie Griffith has been walking there to shop for whatever she needed groceries, clothing, even dental appointments and on Thursday she returned to fight for the chance to keep doing so.

The retail giant announced this week it would close that location, at 8431 S. Stewart Ave., along with smaller stores in Kenwood, Little Village and Lakeview.

Sunday will be the last day for all four locations.

The announcement Tuesday sparked outcry around the city, particularly for the Chatham area, where Walmart has become a hub for everything from appliances and toys to prescriptions and health appointments.

The issue is having a nice, decent place we can walk to, said Griffith, 72, wearing a pair of prescription sunglasses she bought at the store. It should stay.

The Chatham resident was among dozens of South Side residents, community leaders and elected officials protesting the planned closure outside the store Thursday.

Many on hand questioned the move given recent investments in the supercenter. The location was hit hard by rioting in the days after the killing of George Floyd, when protests erupted around the country. But rather than closing, as many feared, Walmart refurbished the store, added a primary care clinic and commissioned a mural for the building that celebrated the history of the neighborhood.

The protest Thursday took place in front of the building, next to the mural.

Two years ago, when they reopened this here, they were very loud and clear, said the Rev. Michael Pfleger, Were here, were committed to his community, well continue to serve you, grow with you and be partners with you.

Today, those words ring hollow, Pfleger said.

Pfleger, the prominent pastor of nearby St. Sabina Catholic Church, said that after coming in almost 20 years ago and driving out local mom and pop stores, the company would leave the community with nothing.

Now the bully pulls out and says it doesnt want to be here anymore, to leave our community with a large empty building and a desert of resources, he said.

Walmart said in its announcement that it was shutting four sites in the city because the companys stores in Chicago overall have been unprofitable, losing tens of millions each year, and yearly losses have almost doubled since 2018.

Looking at the busy parking lot, Pfleger and the others were skeptical and questioned why the company didnt make other adjustments, such as eliminating the self-checkout option, which sometimes creates opportunities for theft.

If there were challenges, talk to the elected officials, said state Sen. Elgie Sims, whose 17th District includes Chatham. Talk to the community leaders.

The only calls hes received, he said, were from constituents.

My office has been inundated with calls from seniors asking where do I go for our medicine, from mothers asking where do I go for food, said Sims.

Walmart has said it would connect employees at the stores its closing with jobs at other Walmarts, but incoming 4th Ward Ald. Lamont Robinson lamented the jobs within the community that would be lost.

We should not have to go outside our community to find jobs; we should not have to go outside our community to shop, Robinson said. Today is a travesty.

Barring an about-face from the company, the group declared it was ready to protest at other Walmarts around Chicago and beyond.

The same Black and Brown people who made this store will be the same ones who walk away, said incoming 6th Ward Ald. William Hall, pastor of St. James Community Church in Chatham. If Walmart does not invest on this land, we will go from Chicago to Indiana to Michigan to protest at other Walmart stores.

Pfleger said they might start by protesting and calling for a boycott of the Walmart Supercenter on West 95th Street in Evergreen Park.

If theyre going to walk out on us, were going to walk out on them, said Pfleger.

The calls for action were met by cheers from the crowd, which included everyone from local seniors to high school students.

Malcolm Box was among a group of students from Leo High School in Auburn-Gresham that was given permission to skip class to attend the protest...

Wonder how they go from refurbing a presumably profitable building after a riot to not making any money in two years

Walmart is owned by a conservative, and conservatives hate the city of Chicago for some reason. They never stop bitching about it

Huh, never saw a protest to keep Walmart in the community. Usually it's to keep them from moving in.

People got mad when they closed the Target on the south side too.

Theft and the general lack of care from the employees is what did them in and I'm sure it's the same for these Walmarts.

Bass posted...

Huh, never saw a protest to keep Walmart in the community. Usually it's to keep them from moving in.

I understand why, though. Walmart truly is an invasive species. They come in, disrupt the current ecosystem, kill off any smaller businesses, then become the only player in town. You either keep them out or you live with them. Walmart sucks ass.

Bass posted...

Huh, never saw a protest to keep Walmart in the community. Usually it's to keep them from moving in.

It is quite odd to see. I wonder what prompted Walmart to close these stores.

Bass posted...

Huh, never saw a protest to keep Walmart in the community. Usually it's to keep them from moving in.

Because the alternative is Dollar General.

Thats a long article tldr?

Payzmaykr posted...

Thats a long article tldr?

Walmart is closing stores in four Chicago cities. People mad.

KillaHarkan posted...

Walmart is closing stores in four Chicago cities. People mad.

What the hell is "four Chicago cities"?

whateveroh posted...

What the hell is "fout Chicago cities"?

Chatham, Kenwood, Little Village and Lakeview.

KillaHarkan posted...

Chatham, Kenwood, Little Village and Lakeview.

Those are neighborhoods not cities.

KillaHarkan posted...

It is quite odd to see. I wonder what prompted Walmart to close these stores.

100% theft

KillaHarkan posted...

It is quite odd to see. I wonder what prompted Walmart to close these stores.

KillaHarkan posted...

Walmart said in its announcement that it was shutting four sites in the city because the companys stores in Chicago overall have been unprofitable, losing tens of millions each year, and yearly losses have almost doubled since 2018.

Looking at the busy parking lot, Pfleger and the others were skeptical and questioned why the company didnt make other adjustments, such as eliminating the self-checkout option, which sometimes creates opportunities for theft.

It's right there, apparently the stores in chicago cumulatively lost tens of millions EACH year. Doesn't say whether it was shrinkage or other causes. I'm going to ASSUME so since the next thing is mentioned about self checkout making thefts more opportune.

If the assumption that they're closing down because of lost profits because Walmart works on razor thin margins as it is (this is an assumption based off of what you hear in general public) to outcompete the local community then the thing to do is target what is causing shrinkage. According to this website...

https://blog.gitnux.com/walmart-shrinkage-statistics/

Employee theft accounts for an estimated 43% of Walmarts inventory shrinkage.
Shoplifting accounts for 36% of Walmarts inventory shrinkage.
Vendor fraud accounts for 5.4% of Walmarts inventory shrinkage.

Basically 80% of the shrinkage is caused by the community itself if we're to believe it. But this is only shrinkage amongst ALL walmarts, and not just these chicago community walmarts. So the community can blame itself, maybe blame themselves for not spending enough money to satisfy walmart's profit greed.

Of course this is going off the assumption that shrinkage is causing 10s of millions in loss of profits.

I'd like to look at the numbers a bit more closely to see the actual cause of this loss of 10s of millions but we all know that won't happen. We can only speculate and wonder just like that poor community.

They're protesting to force the walmart to be responsible for what they've done. We all know that walmarts come in show low prices and kill all the mom and pop stores and when they close down start moving the prices back up. But here, they're leaving after killing off all local stores and leaving the place with absolutely nothing. This is why people DON'T want a walmart to move in, because it causes these kinds of incidents.

I live in Chicago and have been to two of those locations and small businesses around them haven't closed.

badjay posted...

Employee theft accounts for an estimated 43% of Walmarts inventory shrinkage.

damn

they don't want walmart to leave because it's easy to steal from lmao

fuck these people

Welp...

That's how it goes. A business cannot sustain itself just by 'community outcry' alone (especially if it's already hemorrhaging profits by the actual community it's trading its services to).

It's always about the bottom line.

Questionmarktarius posted...

damn

Walmarts shrinkage cost is estimated at approximately $3 billion annually.

Literal billion lost just from employee thefts apparently.

stfu SMAL

Kaiganeer posted...

they don't want walmart to leave because it's easy to steal from lmao

You really think people would do that? Just go into Walmart and steal?

There's 4 Chicago cities? I thought there was only 1 lol

I bet half the people protesting were the same people going in there and stealing

Da fuck you blaming Walmart for, blame the shitty people in your community.

Walmart is a business thats sole objective is to make money, it has no other obligation.

badjay posted...

Literal billion lost just from employee thefts apparently.

A drop in the bucket compared to what they take in unpaid overtime and pass along to taxpayers all the food stamps they get.

I expect more of this to start happening in areas that are light on theft.

Walmart isn't even allowed in NYC, so everybody went east or north. North closed down about 2 year ago, so now the only option is east.

I love how they said walmart shouldve talked to elected officials as if it werent the elected officials who allowed the situation to get bad enough for Walmart to leave.

We have a new mayor now so there is hope. I totally feel for those residents. I live slightly more than half a mile from one and 5 miles from another. It would be rough if either left even though there are plenty of other places on Cermak Avenue.

Brandon Johnson may be able to work something out. I will keep posted to the news and if they picket Walmarts, I will cancel and order from Amazon.

Chicago has to stick together.

Pas5wordFAQ posted...

Brandon Johnson may be able to work something out.

Beyond assigning a constant police presence to the site to deter the shitbags from stealing all day, there probably isn't much that he can do to change their minds.

TentacleDemon posted...

Beyond assigning a constant police presence to the site to deter the shitbags from stealing all day, there probably isn't much that he can do to change their minds.

You believe everything Walmart says? They do not have to back it up. Walmart has not opened their ledger to the public. You are going to take their word.

Brandon Johnson won the runoff for mayor and now Walmart is closing stores.

@badjay
I think some of the shrinkage is stuff being hard to find. I think most of the shrinkage is the corporation sending the store stuff it does not want. There is no obvious relation between what sells at a Walmart and what they get sent.

I do not think a manager is allowed to to tell corporate that they sent him unsellable merchandise because the creed is a good manager can sell anything.

Edit My common sense tells me that corporate sends stuff that never arrived.

Must be a lot of thefts. Why else would they be closing.

deoxxys posted...

100% theft

wish they crack down on that unless it's food for a starving family. or self. the only exception. it's how a few portland walmarts got closed down.

People really are entitled lol. First they don't want the Walmart, now they do. They get upset because they probably do have a valid reason for leaving.There's plenty of alternatives to Walmart that are both A. cheaper and B. better quality. Walmart much like Amazon offers you the aggregate cost on a lot of goods you can find at other locations, they're no cheaper than Target in regards to a lot of things for example.

Plus there's online ordering now, I just don't see how this is an issue outside of the labor they will be leaving behind which can't be more than a few hundred people.

Pas5wordFAQ posted...

We have a new mayor now so there is hope.Turns out one of the Walmarts near me is closing.

Brandon Johnson may be able to work something out. I will keep posted to the news and I am considering cancelling my current delivery and ordering from Amazon.

Chicago has to stick together.

They are not making less profit. IMO. They have raised the bar on how much profit they require.

Definitely. Let's go Brandon, am I right? I keed, I keed.

Pharmacy-wise there is not something cheaper.

As for online ordering this is what I do but you must bring any returns into a store.

And there is a day or more turn around unless you pay $10 over and above for express.

And ordering online is like jumping in deep water when you have never gone swimming. I think the older people in my neighborhood do not own smart phones.

Labor lost probably won't be a big issue since understaffing was a key complaint of many in the Google reviews of the Chatham location within the last 10 months. That and rude employees.

Also, don't buy what Pfleger is selling about "seniors not knowing where to go to get food or medicine." There's a Jewel/Osco & Food4Less about 6-7 blocks away, a 5m drive between those stores and where Walmart is. For those unaware, Food4Less is a Kroger company that boasts lower prices for food, & Jewel/Osco is an Albertson's brand that has served Chicago for decades with many locations, and has a pharmacy within the Osco. There are also 3 Walgreens in relative close proximity also.

Don't buy what Pfleger is selling but buy you what you are selling?

Seriously?

Pas5wordFAQ posted...

Don't buy what Pfleger is selling but buy you what you are selling?

Seriously?

You don't have to since I'm not selling anything. I just looked at a map.

Easy.

Letron_James posted...

People really are entitled lol. First they don't want the Walmart, now they do.

These aren't mutually exclusive. Walmart enters a market, wipes out all of its competitors by offering prices they don't have the logistical capabilities to compete with all while the money spent there disproportionately leaves the area. This is why people don't want Walmart in the area. That's valid.

But once Walmart is in the area and has done its thing, it's now like the only retail/grocery in the area, since they wiped out their competition. So if they leave, there is just no retail or grocery left. That is a valid reason for a community protesting Walmart leaving an area.

Yes online shopping exist, but it has a lot of its own price and time issues.

They are just gonna put new locations in the burbs until those get ruined and they have to move slightly further out.

But those old locations will probably breed some cool used car lots.

Walmart has been cutting costs by employing more self checkout stations and having less cashiers. Like no shit theft will increase when you have less people around to make sure everything is scanned and paid for.

Compsognathus posted...

So if they leave, there is just no retail or grocery left. That is a valid reason for a community protesting Walmart leaving an area.

Well the 4720 Cottage store is one that's being closed and there's still a Mariano's on 39th people can shop at.

But IIRC, there used to be another grocery store across the street.

Not Detroit but Walmart being ransacked:
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTR3px8F7/

Am I the first Chicagoans to realize there will be increased traffic and parking and checkout lines?

All of you who live in Chicago and think this is ok should consider that the increased traffic might impact you.

I've never been to Chicago, but that makes sense.

When you cant maintain profit in a city with a high population, well things arent going too good

Clown brain mentality all because they felt soooo betrayed by a corporation.