In a statement confirmed by an ABC7 reporter and obtained Sunday by The Standard, In-N-Out Chief Operating Officer Denny Warnick spoke plainly about the company's "repeated steps to create safer conditions," saying "our customers and Associates are regularly victimized by car break-ins, property damage, theft and armed robberies."
The company said the store's last day of business would be Sunday, March 24.
In-N-Out thanked the community for its 18 years of support before acknowledging the impact the sudden closure would have on workers and their families, stating that "this location remains a busy and profitable one for the company, but our top priority must be the safety and well- being of our Customers and Associates—we cannot ask them to visit or work in an unsafe environment."
Almost no residents nearby. Car dealers, gas stations, and office buildings. Across the freeway is the Oakland. Coliseum, abandoned by its basketball, football, and (rumored soon) baseball tenants.
The In-N-Out, a convenient pit stop for travelers headed to Oakland International Airport and a buzzy hangout after A’s games at the Coliseum, has become the epicenter for crime in a city grappling with a surge in violence and theft. Since 2019, police have logged 1,335 incidents in the vicinity of the diner on 8300 Oakport St. — more than any other location in Oakland.
That number includes nine robberies, two commercial burglaries, four domestic violence incidents and 1,174 car break-ins, according to Oakland police data. Chaotic scenes unfold daily. Sean Crawford, who works in a building around the corner from the diner, said he’s watched robbery crews bust doors of work vans and heard In-N-Out customers loudly confronting burglars.
In one instance last year, Crawford and some co-workers were driving by the diner when they saw a car pull up to the drive-thru line. Two people jumped out and methodically went from vehicle to vehicle, robbing people at gunpoint, Crawford said.
Another historic first: In-N-Out closes a restaurant in Oakland on truly scary crime concerns
The details of that closure, from the company are ugly enough:
It's pretty bad if you have to close a profitable restaurant because the crime hitting your customers and staff outweighs even the profit. As with LAX, this In-N-Out is located on the highway to Oakland's airport which makes it a convenient place to eat in the era of no-meal airline flights.
It's an area that has grown bleak. A correspondent who has been there noted to me by message this morning:
It gets even worse when you read the San Francisco Chronicle's account of what was going on there:
...and...
This is the kind of horror that happens in Latin America, in the bad parts of Venezuela, or Colombia, or maybe Brazil during its worst years. You can't build a society with trust with that kind of unpunished crime going on, and obviously, it's been going on a long time for it to get to that level.
Black Residents DEMAND Walgreens PAY $10 MILLION For ABANDONING Neighborhood As Democrats Cry Racism
A local Walgreens is shutting its doors for good. The pharmacy closure in Roxbury on Warren Street is the latest in low-income communities in Boston, after stores in Hyde Park and Mattapan recently closed their doors.
Many lawmakers have spoken out against this closure, including Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, who stood along protestors in front of the store, asking Walgreens not to close it. Despite their efforts, this pharmacy is closing for good today.
When this is what Walgreens has to deal with, I'm not surprised.... pic.twitter.com/nqMGTT9G1l
— HardBoiledEgg(@HarderBoiledEgg) January 16, 2024
It’s not Walgreens‘s fault that Boston won’t put people in jail for stealing. It’s not Walgreens his fault the community won’t police itself. https://t.co/NfDuJU22b6
— commonsense (@commonsense258) January 16, 2024
Hey Squad, support thieves being prosecuted and jailed as Thieves!!!Squad’s Pressley Accuses Walgreens Of Racism After It Closes Store In Her District
“Walgreens is planning to close yet another pharmacy in the Massachusetts 7th, this time on Warren Street in Roxbury, a community that is 85% black and Latino,” Pressley said on the House floor. “This closure is a part of a larger trend of abandoning low-income communities like the previous closures in Mattapan and Hyde Park, both in the Massachusetts 7th. When a Walgreens leaves a neighborhood, they disrupt the entire community and they take with them baby formula, diapers, asthma inhalers, life-saving medications, and, of course, jobs.”
“These closures are not arbitrary and they are not innocent,” Pressley charged. “They are life-threatening acts of racial and economic discrimination.”
“That is why I joined with Senators Markey and Warren to demand answers from Walgreens’ CEO,” she continued. “Why was there no community input? No adequate notice to customers? And no transition resources to prevent gaps in health care? Shame on you, Walgreens. Having a website with talking points about health equity and underserved communities is not enough. Walgreens is a multi-billion-dollar corporation that needs to put their money where their mouth is and stop divesting from Black and brown communities.”
Hey Squad, support thieves being prosecuted and jailed as Thieves!!!