Yet another businesses leaves Portland

[The Heretic]

Rite Aid pharmacy in downtown Portland to close permanently

The retail chain’s storefront near Pioneer Courthouse Square will close on June 6.

www.oregonlive.com

 

[Alexx1401]

After reading the entire story I did not see the reason I "suspect" is really why they are closing. SCUM. I suspect all the fancy words used were to not say the problem is more stuff walking out the door stolen by scum than they can afford to cover by those who pay. Again for anyone who is going to be in hardship over this I would ask, how have you been voting?

 

[Mikej]

After reading the entire story I did not see the reason I "suspect" is really why they are closing. SCUM. I suspect all the fancy words used were to not say the problem is more stuff walking out the door stolen by scum than they can afford to cover by those who pay. Again for anyone who is going to be in hardship over this I would ask, how have you been voting?

I don't know how it lasted this long?

You hit the nail on the head. Feckless ted should have to work at these stores. The wife's store has to barely be hanging on with the amount of product they have to, just watch, walk out the door.

 

[Alexx1401]

I don't know how it lasted this long?

You hit the nail on the head. Feckless ted should have to work at these stores. The wife's store has to barely be hanging on with the amount of product they have to, just watch, walk out the door.

I do feel bad every time I read another of these but again voters getting what they wanted. LONG before it got anything close to this bad they built a really nice new store in downtown Tacoma here. A LOT of housing down there by then. A LOT of people who did not own a car. So the idea was great. Give those who wanted, one they could walk too. I could see even then the scum would ruin it. Took about a year and the damn thing was boarded up and gone. The way it is now? I too wonder how any of them keep the doors open. There used to be a store called "Best" here decades back. The sales floor was just display. You picked out what you wanted, went to a service counter and paid. They brought the stuff out to you. It went under do to too many just not wanting to hassle. Now? It looks like many places will have to go to this to have a store at all.

 

[The Heretic]

I think this the way that cities like Portland and Seattle will go. Their policies and density will cause a degradation of services, both private and public, and their population makeup will go downhill too. It will be a "flight to the suburbs" (and now, rural) phenomena for those that can afford it, for businesses and employment.

And it is an expensive thing to do - especially for those businesses that invested heavily in downtown property.

 

[OldTengu]

Portland businesses choose to leave downtown

Margulis Jewelers opened in 1932, just down the road from their current location in Pioneer Square during the height of the depression. Owner David Margulis said he's now closing sooner than planned, offering customers a "going out of business" sale until June. "I wanted to work until I was 75...

katu.com

This is in one of my buildings.
One of the things not mentioned is that the building itself only has three non retail tenants. In a twelve story building.
Downtown is empty. I have a 200,000 square foot office building that's completely empty, even though it has tenants that are on the hook for their leases for several more years, they have vacated with no plans to return.

 

[Burt Gummer]

Oh man, I hear you. I do telecom/VoIP/IT and we've moved companies around a lot lately in the downtown area. Mortgage companies hit a wall very hard. Call volume down 80%+ in the last 30 days due to higher interest rates. Bailing from glass palaces to tent-lined entryways. Had to park my work van alongside a row of tents on SW Yamhill. Gave one guy $20 to 'watch my van' vs them screwing with it. Fun times! ..... and they will get much worse .....

 

[OldTengu]

Oh man, I hear you. I do telecom/VoIP/IT and we've moved companies around a lot lately in the downtown area. Mortgage companies hit a wall very hard. Call volume down 80%+ in the last 30 days due to higher interest rates. Bailing from glass palaces to tent-lined entryways. Had to park my work van alongside a row of tents on SW Yamhill. Gave one guy $20 to 'watch my van' vs them screwing with it. Fun times! ..... and they will get much worse .....

Socks, 5 dollar bills and tuna pouches keep me in tune with what happens around mine. I have buildings from 21st and Hoyt to 1st and Oak and it's schitshow down here.

 

[Burt Gummer]

Hey, my old paper route in the early 70s! Paperboy of the year and given a $50 savings bond from William Shatner. Know that area very well. Less tents back then though.

 

[The Heretic]

Report: Starbucks to close two Portland locations citing safety concerns

Two Starbucks coffee shops in the Portland area are closing, citing safety concerns.

katu.com

 

[Mikej]

Report: Starbucks to close two Portland locations citing safety concerns

Two Starbucks coffee shops in the Portland area are closing, citing safety concerns.

katu.com

They don't mention it, but part of closings are probably because they can't get the millennials, gen-x and gen-zers to show up for work. It's a huge problem with the "In-Store" Starbucks's locations in Safeway and Albertson's stores.

 

[Flopsweat]

They don't mention it, but part of closings are probably because they can't get the millennials, gen-x and gen-zers to show up for work. It's a huge problem with the "In-Store" Starbucks's locations in Safeway and Albertson's stores.

It's a problem for a lot of entry-level unskilled jobs.

 

[Mikej]

It's a problem for a lot of entry-level unskilled jobs.

For the starbucks job there are skills you must learn and develop. All kinds of duties in that job that take practice to do it well. Customer service is a skill. Anymore, it would seem, getting dressed to show up for the job is a skill. and so many would seem to be seriously un-skilled. Running the equipment is a skill. Proper cleaning and set-up is a skill. Is the person that drives/operates those huge vacuum trucks that clear the storm drains an unskilled worker? Granted, a person isn't going to be able to get married, buy a 2,500sq/' house and have two children on what they pay. But it was never supposed to be that way.

 

[Flopsweat]

For the starbucks job there are skills you must learn and develop. All kinds of duties in that job that take practice to do it well. Customer service is a skill. Anymore, it would seem, getting dressed to show up for the job is a skill. and so many would seem to be seriously un-skilled. Running the equipment is a skill. Proper cleaning and set-up is a skill. Is the person that drives/operates those huge vacuum trucks that clear the storm drains an unskilled worker? Granted, a person isn't going to be able to get married, buy a 2,500sq/' house and have two children on what they pay. But it was never supposed to be that way.

Restaurant and hospitality are generally considered low skill. You have to learn a bunch of machines at a McDonald's too. An electrician or plumber would be a skilled job. A job operating heavy machinery like a vacuum truck, bus or semi is a skilled job. Helicopter pilot is a high skilled job. So I would still consider a barista or a fast food shift supervisor a low skilled job. Nothing personal, I've worked in fast food too. I knew how to run a grill, change soda tanks, calibrate timers, write a schedule and check the frier temperature. I'm sure it's more complex than that now but I still wouldn't consider it a skill.

 

[The Heretic]

If you can learn it in a few days to a week or two, probably not a "skilled" job IMO.

Even with 30 years of experience in s/w dev, it would take me at least a week or two to even start work on a new (to me) project (get the computer setup, dev env setup, get the repo compiling and the system running - all which should have been done by the org before my first day, but almost never is), months to get up to speed on the codebase and the system (longer if the codebase is crap, which it often is), probably years to be "indispensable".

 

[Flopsweat]

If you can learn it in a few days to a week or two, probably not a "skilled" job IMO.

Even with 30 years of experience in s/w dev, it would take me at least a week or two to even start work on a new (to me) project (get the computer setup, dev env setup, get the repo compiling and the system running - all which should have been done by the org before my first day, but almost never is), months to get up to speed on the codebase and the system (longer if the codebase is crap, which it often is), probably years to be "indispensable".

I've had everything from a computer and monitor in a box to "Log in and run this script and you should be set." Nothing surprises me anymore.

 

[The Heretic]

I've had everything from a computer and monitor in a box to "Log in and run this script and you should be set." Nothing surprises me anymore.

Despite 9 years of trying to get Daimler to setup dev systems before a new dev came on board (when we had like 3+ weeks notice they were coming), I never was able to accomplish anything more than a laptop and monitor on their desk (about a 50/50 chance of getting that done), and even then that was a rare thing. DTNA had a huge IT staff, a significant part of which was dedicated to logistical support like this, and they still sucked at it.

The best we could do was document the process - and even then, devs were often held up for a week just trying to get LAMA permissions, which usually required two levels of manager approvals.

 

[Flopsweat]

Despite 9 years of trying to get Daimler to setup dev systems before a new dev came on board (when we had like 3+ weeks notice they were coming), I never was able to accomplish anything more than a laptop and monitor on their desk (about a 50/50 chance of getting that done), and even then that was a rare thing. DTNA had a huge IT staff, a significant part of which was dedicated to logistical support like this, and they still sucked at it.

The best we could do was document the process - and even then, devs were often held up for a week just trying to get LAMA permissions, which usually required two levels of manager approvals.

I was paid to read manuals for 2 weeks once while HR unscrambled their paperwork so that they could tell IT to activate my network credentials. I had a cardkey but no login. Boss tried to tell me to take the week off I said no, I've got plenty of reading to do.

Another gig, at a place with a name you'd recognize, for 3 weeks my boss would log into my dev box in the morning and after lunch, using his credentials. "Don't tell anyone. I need this project started now".

 

[Alexx1401]

For the starbucks job there are skills you must learn and develop. All kinds of duties in that job that take practice to do it well. Customer service is a skill. Anymore, it would seem, getting dressed to show up for the job is a skill. and so many would seem to be seriously un-skilled. Running the equipment is a skill. Proper cleaning and set-up is a skill. Is the person that drives/operates those huge vacuum trucks that clear the storm drains an unskilled worker? Granted, a person isn't going to be able to get married, buy a 2,500sq/' house and have two children on what they pay. But it was never supposed to be that way.

The biggest "skill" that seems to be so hard now days is simply showing up to work, on time, and ready to work.

 

[Mikej]

The biggest "skill" that seems to be so hard now days is simply showing up to work, on time, and ready to work.

That's exactly what I'm talkin' about! that should be sort of a first step? Dontcha' think? Really important step on the way to making a "Living Wage"? To use a very popular term from the flakes these days?