🔍 Local businesses ask for police investigations

Small Business Owners Want Theft Investigations

After Portland and Gresham police successfully cracked down on a shoplifting ring targeting retail chains, small business owners are asking the police to focus on investigating break-ins and thefts affecting them. It's already too late for the downtown business REDe Print n Shop; they’re closing after their fourth break-in since 2020, which owners say police failed to investigate. [KGW]

ICE Arrest in Portland Federal Courthouse

A transgender woman from Mexico who sought asylum in the United States was arrested immediately following the dismissal of her case in immigration court. It appears to be the first arrest by ICE in the Portland federal courthouse, though it mirrors similar arrests across the country. [Willamette Week]

The Sports Bra’s Expansion Team

The Sports Bra, the first sports bar in the country airing only women’s sports, has announced it’ll be expanding to four new cities: Boston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, and St. Louis. [KOIN]

I admitted last week that I was asking the question “Is Portland over?” after the announcement that the outdoor store Next Adventure is closing.

Here’s what some of you had to say about the businesses you miss and the whole “Is it over?” question.

• “I could say Satyricon, or Quality Pie, or any number of businesses that were quintessentially Portland to me, a period in our (nation’s) history when time wasn’t a commodity and cheap rents allowed for more experimental art, music, indie shops, etc. But then if time had stopped we wouldn’t have the new iterations of the Hollywood Theatre & PDX, food cart pods, the expanded art museum, etc. People who tie their identity to a handful of businesses are probably just missing their younger selves. Embrace change! Volunteer—go for a hike—sit by the river—make your city about things that don’t involve your wallet.” — Anonymous
• “I’ll just say that I lived in Portland from 2000-2013 and returned 2 years ago, and this is just a different place.” — Vonna
• “McMenamins Rams Head is closing. That one really hurt!” — E J Wheeler
• “Caffe Mingo and Barba Mingo closed. August 2024, due to fire. Huge loss.” — Florence
• “This may sound ridiculous, but I was devastated when the Marshalls in the Lloyd Center closed. Actually, the decline of the Lloyd Center still bugs me. I used to be able to do all my shopping within a 1-mile radius. Now I have to drive out to either Cascade Station or one of the other strip malls to see physical clothes before buying.” — Amelia
• “Consider this. Take yourself back a hundred years ago to 1925. Think of what was happening then. Movies were still silent. Milk was thirty-five cents per gallon. Portland was only 80 years old. The Sellwood bridge had just opened. Mussolini declared himself dictator in Italy, Mein Kampf was published. Calvin Coolidge was president, and Clarence Darrow defended a young teacher for teaching evolution in Tennessee…. I have no doubt that many people looking around our city asked themselves, ‘Is Portland over?’… In my view, our city isn’t over. It’s just chuggin’ along, doing what it’s supposed to do: grow, change, and evolve.” — Steven Kaufman

Thanks as always to everyone who shared their views. Please feel free to hit reply to any newsletter to share your views.