Find out how thieves and vandals are driving Parkrose retailers to shut down – and what the City of Portland isn’t doing about it …
These customers appreciate having a full-service grocery story in Parkrose, as they shop in the Grocery Outlet Bargain Market.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
For decades, City of Portland and Multnomah County elected officials have lamented growing “food deserts” – the disappearance of grocery stores – in outer East Portland.
In September, the Parkrose Fred Meyer store, opened by Fred G. Meyer himself in 1954 – the hub of the Gateway Shopping Center – shut down. Kroger officials, speaking for the chain’s current owner, announced that the closure was due to an “economic decline” in the area – and specifically, public safety concerns for employees and shoppers, and increasing crime, including “retail shrinkage”. The more common word for it is shoplifting. Some of it is casual, some of it is organized high-volume crime. Often it is accompanied by violence and vandalism.
Parkrose retailers continue to struggle
For a number of years, a variety of business owners there have told East Portland News that increased crime in Parkrose was hampering business to the point of their considering shutting down.
However, none of these business owners have been willing be to go “on the record” – until now.
Part of his job is stocking shelves: Here’s Parkrose Grocery Outlet Bargain Market “Independent Owner-Operator” Don McKeever.
Then, recently, Parkrose Grocery Outlet Bargain Market’s “Independent Owner-Operator”, Don McKeever, asked us for his story to be told.
Unlike the Fred Meyer and QFC stores that are owned, operated, and staffed by the national Kroger Company, Grocery Outlet Bargain Market stores are individually-owned, McKeever told East Portland News.
This store isn’t part of a large chain, it’s individually owned by its operator, in Parkrose.
“It’s not a traditional franchise, because we select and buy our own equipment, from shelves and refrigeration units to cash registers,” McKeever explained. “We’re required to keep up to the company standards – but, we pay all the taxes, fund our own payroll, and purchase the licensing.
“This means when people steal from our store, they’re stealing from my family – and from our employees, who we treat like family – and who receive better-than-entry wages, earned pay raises, and benefits.”
Grocery Outlet Bargain Market is like a “farm club” system in professional sports, we learned. Prospective owners must first undergo a year of ownership training at another Grocery Outlet store – in his case, in the Gresham store. After that, McKeever bought the Parkrose store from its previous owner/operator – who, in turn, then “moved up” by buying a larger store.
Wants to stay and help Parkrose neighbors
“My original thought was to build up the Parkrose store for a couple years, and then, move up, myself,” McKeever acknowledged.
Parkrose Grocery Outlet owner Don McKeever shows one of the many food bags he’ll be donating to the Parkrose High School’s Food Pantry.
“But, over the past three years, as I became more involved with the community, and began supporting school sports and other programs, including schools’ Food Banks – as well as the Crossroads Food Bank – and I now have close bonds with Parkrose. This led us to support three daycare centers year-’round – and now during vacation times [we provide food to them], so the families can continue working and care for their children,” McKeever said.
Continuing violent crime darkens future prospects
“We are fighting a hard battle to stay here, because of the crime,” McKeever bluntly stated. “When people steal things from our store, we always try to get the products back. When shoplifters, thieves – whatever you want to call them – get away with stealing stuff, the word gets around fast, especially in the ‘camps’, and the thievery ramps up quickly.
“So, it’s not the two-dollar bag of cookies, it’s the fact that the store becomes an ‘easy mark’ if we let them get away with it, so we follow them out into the parking lot or onto street, and try to get our goods back.”
Store Manager brutally assaulted
“My son, our Store Manager, was trying to get merchandise back on August 27 when he was attacked by a shoplifter – leaving him with a broken nose, multiple fractures in the cheekbone and jawbone, and nerve damage in the side of his face,” McKeever recalled. “When a police officer eventually arrived, the assailant wasn’t arrested, he was given a ‘ticket to appear’ [in court] – while my son was in the hospital, facing thousands of dollars of medical treatment.
“I’ve been thrown to the ground, kicked in the face, and kicked in the back of the head and in the ribs – and had a gun pulled on me over a guy stealing a bottle of wine.
“In the morning, people who are coming down from their overnight high, and haven’t ‘crashed’ yet, are typically highly agitated; they’ll fight you for a doughnut.”
Organized crime raids cause havoc
McKeever told how a half-dozen or so people will come in the store to “shop”. While a couple of them fill shopping carts, others will meander around stuffing merchandise into their pockets.
“Then, one with a full cart will go to check-out and ‘have a problem’ with ‘their’ credit card, drawing over the Manager. Then, another one will smash a bottle of wine of the floor – and another will topple a table of products. While the employees are tied up with these created-emergencies, one of the ‘shoppers’ will roll a cart-full of goods out the door,” McKeever detailed.
Near the railroad tracks behind the store, just outside a homeless encampment, store employees find another of their stolen shopping carts. PGOBM photo
It’s not the poor and downtrodden of Parkrose’s residents who try to roll their $350-per-cart shopping carts out of the parking lot, McKeever said, but mostly residents of the many “camps” located along the railroad right-of-way.
Smaller food markets typically operate with a very slim profit margin, usually ranging from
1% to 2% of revenue. “Without operating profitability, this or any other store just can’t stay in business,” emphasized McKeever.
Vandalism further besieges store
This smashed window will cost the store thousands of dollars to replace. PGOBM photo
Beyond shoplifting, there’s also been physical damage to the store. McKeever said someone breaking into the store to steal alcohol smashed one of their large front windows, which costs $5,800 to replace. Not long thereafter, a shoplifter that the staff of the store caught smashed another entryway window in anger.
Crime reduction in Parkrose needed
“What can be done to make this better?” we asked.
“In the short term, what the city needs to do is clean up the streets – and by this, I mean getting ‘law and order’ back here,” suggested McKeever. “If somebody commits a crime, arrest and prosecute them. I’m not one who says ‘throw them all in jail’. But, violent people who do crimes – like breaking someone’s jaw – should be prosecuted.
“First of all, we have to have more police officers – not necessarily citywide, but certainly here in this area,” McKeever continued. “Sometimes even a 9-1-1 call can take up to nine hours to get a response – which can be deadly. People need to be able to go shopping without fear of what might be happening at their Grocery Outlet store.”
Homelessness not totally the problem
Many, but now all, of the shoplifters come from nearby homeless camps, store operators say.
“Being poor or homeless isn’t really the problem; I know a lot of these homeless people – perhaps more than does our Mayor, because I talk with many of them, every day, here at the store.
“What I’ve learned is that you cannot house everyone – because not everyone wants to be housed!” declared McKeever. “Some tell me that this is their ‘lifestyle’ and the way they want to live – although it seems many of them have mental health, alcohol, or drug problems.
“At the same time, it seems like some, but not all, homeless would rather steal and rob instead of work; those are the ones more interested in ‘getting high’ than being productive members of society,” McKeever said.
Gathering while awaiting a meaningful response from the City of Portland are neighbor/shopper Genevieve Rossi, property owner Andrea Angell, Grocery Outlet store owner Don McKeever, Workplace Change Director of Operations Charles McGee, and Historic Parkrose Executive Director Héctor.
Keeps asking for help that never comes
McKeever observed that theirs isn’t the only store facing possible closure in the neighborhood, as a result of the violence, and the loss. “I’ve been trying to get help for years,” he said.
He recalled that in mid-September, City of Portland elected officials, or their representatives, met with him and other business owners at the Historic Parkrose NPI office to hear their concerns.
“[Portland District 1 City] Councilor Candace Avalos told me she was drafting a response to the meeting that proposes solutions; and, I’m still waiting for a police report I was promised some time ago – but, so far, that’s it,” McKeever updated us on October 9.
Store closings are not an empty threat!
His situation has gotten so dire, McKeever disclosed, that he has not yet renewed the lease on his store – it will be up in January.
Property owner Andrea Angell, of Master Plan Development Inc., listens to area owners tell how crime is affecting their businesses in Parkrose.
On September 30, the owner of the Grocery Outlet and Dollar Store properties and buildings, Andrea Angell, spoke with equal candidness to East Portland News.
“The stores’ leases will expire in January; and, so far, they have not signed [a renewal],” Angell said while walking to a meeting. “So far, the tenants have asked for is a 40% rent reduction – four months free rent,” she continued. “How this affects our company is that I’ve owned the property for ten years; and I am in a position of negotiating leases with these tenants to stay for another ten years, and right now, they’re not signing leases.
“So, come February, the stores could be empty,” she said. “The issues [of the stores continuing operation] are security, violence, vandalism, theft, and personal safety, and a lack of law enforcement presence here in this district – even with us paying for an armed security guard.
“While I’m hopeful that Parkrose can have a full-service grocery store, I’m fully aware of the challenges the tenants are facing trying to keep their businesses, and their livelihoods, going.” Angell acknowledged.
So, here’s the bottom line: Will the City of Portland elected officials go beyond handwringing, and produce results that save the only grocery store left in Parkrose?
Whatever happens, we’ll report on it.
© 2025 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
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