Nike abruptly closed a key Portland store and reportedly wants to reopen with off-duty police officers that can arrest shoplifters

• Nike has at least temporarily closed its first-ever factory store because of theft.
• The store has been a point of pride for Nike and the Northeast Portland community since it opened.

Originally published February 13, 2023.

Nike has temporarily closed a retail location in Portland, Oregon, with one of the richest histories in its store footprint because of ongoing theft.

"People were just going in there with bags already opened and picking up stuff and walking out the door past unarmed security," Ron Herndon, a Portland civil rights and education activist, told Insider, about the closure of the Nike store on the city's MLK Boulevard.

Herndon worked with Nike to open the store in 1984.

The at-least temporary closure of the Nike store comes as retailers nationwide have responded in a variety of ways to the estimated $95 billion problem of retail theft.

Nike's proposed solution, according to a letter the company sent Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler last week, includes allowing the company to hire off-duty police officers and empowering them to arrest shoplifters, according to the Oregonian. The city did not immediately provide Insider a copy of the letter in response to a public records request.

"The safety of our employees and consumers is a responsibility Nike takes very seriously," Nike said, in a statement to Insider.

The company said it proposed a "sustained and coordinated partnership with the city to better protect employees, consumers, and the community" at the store, but it did not provide Insider details.

The Portland Nike store closure comes as large retailers are warning about the proliferation of stolen goods on online marketplaces like Amazon, Craigslist, eBay and Facebook.

"What we are seeing more of are individual events of large-scale theft," David Johnston, vice president of asset protection and retail operations for the National Retail Federation, told Insider. "It's a national issue. It's impacting not only the large retailers or the brand-name retailers; it's impacting small business owners."

Insider has reported on steps being taken by large retailers to address rampant shoplifting, including keeping more merchandise under lock and key.

A spokesperson for Wheeler said the mayor's office is working with Nike to address its concerns, which extend to a downtown Portland store that remains open.

"Addressing retail theft, vandalism, and safety concerns requires coordination from local retailers, police and public safety partners with support from the court system, and we will continue to work together to unify our public safety response," Wheeler said, in a statement provided to Insider.

In November, KGW, the Portland NBC affiliate, said the Nike store reported 437 shoplifting cases to police since 2019, second only to a Portland Target store, which had 650.

The KGW report noted Nike's website had indicated since October that the store would be closed for the "next 7 days." The website still lists that timeline.

The now-closed Portland store has been a point of pride for Nike, its employees, and the Northeast Portland community since it opened in June 1984.

Herndon, who co-chaired Portland's Black United Front at the time, previously told the Portland Business Journal the deal with Nike to open the store came together over a handshake. At the time, Nike was being criticized for its lack of support for the Black community.

That year, Nike gave a $10,000 grant to a neighborhood group near the store, according to a 1984 story in the Oregonian. Nike has continued to hire employees for the store from the surrounding neighborhood and support local organizations.

"That was part of the agreement that we struck with them," Herndon told Insider. "They would not only hire people from the community, but they would invest in community organizations. They kept to that."

While the Nike store is at least temporarily closed, it hasn't been abandoned.

On Monday, an employee could be seen inside the store tidying up. Merchandise remains on racks and shelves. A large pile of unopened inventory sits in boxes in the middle of the sales floor. A landscaping crew tidied up the greenery in the parking lot.

"They want to keep it open," Herndon said. "They could have left at any time. They understand the legacy of the store. They don't want to close it."