As reported by KEZI, the Grocery Outlet located on NE Sandy Blvd in Portland’s Parkrose neighborhood is now on the verge of shutting down, possibly as early as the end of this month. Crime in Tina Kotek’s Oregon has become so extreme that even basic grocery stores cannot operate safely anymore. Owner Don McKeever says the situation has deteriorated to the point where shoplifting, vandalism, and violence are happening constantly, and both he and his employees are being assaulted simply for trying to run a store in a city that refuses to protect them.
McKeever says he has been stabbed multiple times in the hand by a thief trying to steal pastries and has even had a gun pulled on him over a 7.99 bottle of wine. His employees have also been assaulted while simply trying to do their jobs, including being shoved, threatened, and attacked by people who know there will be no consequences. He has watched his front windows smashed out, seen shopping carts stolen almost daily, and lost thousands of dollars in merchandise each month. He estimates losing up to ten carts every week at 350 dollars each and another ten thousand dollars monthly in stolen goods. That is in addition to tens of thousands in damage to the building.
While city officials and Tina Kotek’s administration continue pointing to crime statistics that claim things are trending downward, people who live in Portland know that is not reality. Most residents no longer bother calling the police because nothing happens. The data is meaningless when the public has simply given up on reporting crime. In Parkrose, where this store is located, crime has actually risen fifteen percent in the last year.
Grocery Outlet is far from the first business pushed out of Portland by the lawlessness that Kotek refuses to address. It is only the latest. Many more businesses have closed or fled because the city is no longer safe. Employees at this store are quitting because they do not feel safe showing up to work. They have had to escort violent individuals out of the building, and some employees have resigned because they fear being attacked on the job.
McKeever says he is trying to work with city leaders and the district attorney to secure more police presence and some kind of real change. But unless something improves by next spring or summer, he will close the store. At this point, after being stabbed, robbed, vandalized, and ignored by the people who run this state, he says he might shut down even sooner.
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East PDX News has been documenting the collapse of retail in Parkrose long before this Grocery Outlet crisis reached its breaking point. Their reporting shows that Portland and Multnomah County leaders spent years warning about growing food deserts in East Portland while choosing policies that helped create them. In September, the Parkrose Fred Meyer that had served the neighborhood since 1954 shut down after Kroger cited rising crime, worsening safety conditions, and a surge of retail theft. Losing that major retailer was a huge blow, and now the last remaining full service grocery store in Parkrose is facing the same fate.
According to East PDX News, business owners in Parkrose have privately complained for years that crime was pushing them toward shutting down, but they were afraid to speak publicly. McKeever is the first who felt he had no choice but to go on the record because the situation has become unbearable. East PDX News also emphasized that his Grocery Outlet is not a corporate chain location with national backing. It is independently owned. The McKeever family pays their own payroll, taxes, equipment costs, and licensing. Every theft and every act of vandalism directly hurts a local family and the employees who depend on the store to survive.
East PDX News also revealed that McKeever has become deeply involved in the community over the past three years. Instead of moving on to a larger store, he chose to stay and support Parkrose. He donates food to the Parkrose High School pantry, Crossroads Food Bank, three local daycare centers, and multiple programs that rely on his help. He wants to remain a part of the community, but the violence and theft are making it impossible.
One of the most horrifying details uncovered by East PDX News was the brutal assault on McKeever’s son, who manages the store. On August 27, while trying to recover stolen merchandise, he was attacked so severely that he suffered a broken nose, fractures to his cheekbone and jaw, and nerve damage. He needed major medical treatment. The attacker was not arrested. He was given a citation while the victim was in a hospital bed. This is what passes for accountability in Portland.
East PDX News reported additional assaults on McKeever himself. He has been thrown to the ground, kicked in the face, kicked in the ribs, and had a gun pointed at him. All of this has happened because he tries to stop the theft that is bankrupting his store.
Organized theft rings have also hit the location. East PDX News described coordinated attacks where several people enter at once. Some cause chaos by smashing wine bottles or flipping displays while others push full carts of merchandise out the door. This is not petty crime. This is organized criminal activity thriving under Portland’s lack of enforcement.
Stolen shopping carts, each valued around 350 dollars, are regularly found abandoned near the large homeless camps along the railroad tracks behind the store. McKeever told East PDX News that not all unhoused people commit crimes, but many openly tell him they prefer to live in addiction, steal, and avoid work. Some refuse offers of housing because they are not interested in changing their lifestyle.
Response times from police are catastrophic. East PDX News documented that a 911 call in Parkrose can take up to nine hours. Residents and workers are essentially on their own, which is why businesses are collapsing in the neighborhood.
The store’s property owner told East PDX News that the Grocery Outlet and Dollar Store leases expire in January and have not been renewed. The tenants asked for a major rent reduction due to the overwhelming security crisis. If nothing changes, both stores could be empty by February, leaving Parkrose without a full service grocery store and pushing the neighborhood even closer to becoming a food desert.
This is Tina Kotek’s Oregon. This is what it looks like when leaders insist Portland is fine. What is happening in Parkrose is not an unavoidable tragedy. It is the predictable outcome of progressive policies that have destroyed the quality of life in a city that was once beautiful, safe, and thriving. Businesses are not leaving because they feel like it. They are leaving because Portland has become unlivable. Food deserts are spreading. Violence is rising. Criminals act without fear. Neighborhoods lose their grocery stores, families lose access to basic necessities, and the people in charge keep pretending nothing is wrong. This did not happen by accident. It happened because leaders put ideology above public safety and left entire communities to deal with the consequences.
