Nike’s Community Store in Northeast Portland has been closed for weeks because of thefts. The company has offered to contract with, and pay off-duty uniformed Portland Police Bureau officers, in order to reopen the store, according to The Oregonian.
In a letter sent to Mayor Ted Wheeler, obtained by The Oregonian, Nike’s chief security officer, Joe Marsico, and Nike’s North America general manager, Sarah Mensah, said the company closed its Community Store last November “in response to deteriorating public safety conditions and rapid escalation in retail theft.”
Nike also proposed in the letter forming an intergovernmental agreement with the City of Portland to fund a designated number of additional full-time officers. The letter said it’s “critical that one of these two models be made effective prior to May 1, 2023,” and indicated it is pursuing a similar model at the company’s downtown Portland store.
Nike’s Portland Community Store, which opened on MLK Jr. Blvd. in 1984 as the company’s first factory store, has reportedly always faced theft issues, but shoplifting has increased in recent years.
Photo courtesy PBJ
