Target blamed theft and violence for 9 store closures. Crime is higher at locations it kept open nearby

Yes, steal away! Just make sure you always return those shopping carts though!

It’s recurring because, in the last couple of years, this false narrative has been propagated by a several large retain chains and repeated by corporate media. Either they each individually, and at virtually the same time, just so happened to decide to push this false narrative about their chain, or they colluded.

Reuters: US retail lobbyists retract key claim on 'organized' retail crime

First of all, the source is CNBC, so it is not a “weir vendetta […] solely on the .ml instances.” This and e.g. their prior article (https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/26/organized-retail-crime-and-theft-not-increasing-much-nrf-study-finds.html) are well in-line with economics reporting as their core business. And then, it is Target and CEO Brian Cornell and NRF — where Cornell is also a board member — pushing this narrative (e.g. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/26/business/target-store-closures-theft.html), that lead to news outlet to their investigative reporting. There are further legitimate concerns by press regarding NRF’s legislative lobby effort based on non-existent evidence: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/26/retailers-lobby-congress-to-pass-combating-organized-retail-crime-act.html