The announced supermarket closure follows east Portland’s loss of the Fred Meyer at Gateway Shopping Center last fall, and it comes months after McKeever sounded the alarm that he could be forced to shutter due to persistent public safety problems.
It also comes as Portland leaders scramble for ways to preserve and expand grocery options across the city’s historically underserved quadrant.
In an interview with East PDX News last September, McKeever detailed a series of episodes in which shoplifters smashed out store windows, assaulted him and other employees and routinely pilfered groceries or made off with the store’s $350 shopping carts.
“How could this have happened?” wonders Portland City Council members while steadfastly doing nothing about crime, drug use, or the homeless.