Rising crime has more of an impact on Americans than just public safety. It is reportedly also leading to costing businesses more on security, if not forcing them to close down altogether.
As Starbucks has been forced to close 16 U.S. locations amid incidents of crime, other restaurants and supermarkets are feeling the crunch of increased security amid a crime wave in the U.S., The Wall Street Journal reported.
Noodles dining chain has been seeing increased drug use in bathrooms and is spending money to respond, CEO Dave Boennighausen told the Journal, while Kroger supermarkets noted profit margins were hit last year by increased costs related to security and thefts.
"We are facing things that the stores weren't built for," Starbucks interim CEO Howard Schultz said. "We are listening to our people and closing stores."
Food-service research firm Lisa W. Miller & Associates LLC noted 44% of U.S. adults are more fearful of patronizing local businesses during the widespread crime.
The Journal noted Democrat-run cities of Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York having rising violent crime causing residual damage to business conditions outside of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, protocols, and massive Biden administration inflation that is at a 41-year high of 9.1%.
Aggravated assaults in grocery stores increased 73% and in restaurants increased 60% from 2018 to 2020, according to FBI data.
"There seems to be a layer of stress going into the restaurants, more than it used to," MOD Super Fast Pizza Holdings LLC Senior VP of Operations Becky Mulligan told the Journal.
MOD is installing more panic buttons in its stores, and offering emotional support resources, she added.
Economic conditions are unfavorable enough amid inflation and supply chain woes, but crime adds the cost of security on top of the losses by theft, according to New York-based Morton Williams Supermarket Director of Sales and Marketing Steve Schwartz.
"It's a lose, lose, lose all the way around," Schwartz told the Journal.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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