Crime Forces Business to SHUT DOWN… Then Chicago Residents Demand Criminal Charges Against STORE!!!

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]So apparently a Walgreens located in a southside neighborhood in Chicago has created quite the controversy. You see, they decided that they were tired of operating in a neighborhood where theft was too common and it was eating away at their ability to run a profitable business. And well, the residents in this Chicago Southside neighborhood are apparently furious about that and they're directing their anger at Walgreens because the store decided that it was no longer going to operate and is closing down. Now, if you did not hear me correctly, ladies and gentlemen, I said the residents are mad that a store that was experiencing death so much that it was no longer profitable to operate in that neighborhood decided they were shutting down and the residents are mad at the store, not not at the criminals. And so we we'll get into all of that because we got a lot to break down. And so make sure you smash that thumbs up button if you do enjoy the content. Subscribe to stay locked in with future videos. And let's start with this.

[00:01:15]>> This Walgreens has been in the Chattam neighborhood for decades. A place where residents could walk and pick up their prescription. That will soon change as Walgreens says it's closing its doors for good.

[00:01:26]>> Right by us by us. They're making their message clear and known, walking inside the Walgreens on 87th in Cottage Grove.

[00:01:34]>> They don't care about the well-being.

[00:01:36]It's not their family that's on these meds.

[00:01:38]>> Walgreens recently announced it's closing its doors in the Chattam neighborhood due to a higher level of theft and violent incidents, leaving the closest location now more than a mile away. Daryl Smith says he relies on this Walgreens because his 76-year-old mother had a lung transplant and takes 54 pills a day. He says during his lunch break, he gets her medication from this Walgreens in the sixth ward.

[00:02:00]>> And if they close this Walgreens, the next one is not within the um distance for me to do on my lunch break. So, it's a real inconvenience.

[00:02:08]>> Sixth Woman William Hall says he wants what they've done in other neighborhoods, modifications.

[00:02:14]>> What we're witnessing is again to tell the two cities. Downtown on 12th Street, they figured it out. On 87th Street, they just give up. They've been giving up in the fourth ward, the fifth ward, now the sixth ward. This isn't the first time Walgreens has moved out of Southside neighborhoods. Last year, we reported Walgreens announced it was closing five Chicago locations, including a significant store in the Bronzeville neighborhood at 35th and King Drive.

[00:02:35]>> To turn its back >> on the south side of Chicago is absolutely inhumane.

[00:02:47]>> Walgreens, shame on you. Walgreens also closed its location last year at 71st and 79th in Jeffrey.

[00:02:56]>> This isn't an accident.

[00:02:58]>> This is corporate extraction.

[00:03:00]>> Yeah. And so you heard them mentioned that other stores in Chicago had made modifications to the stores to combat the death. And so let's get into this next clip because I want to show you what those modifications look like. So check this out.

[00:03:16]>> Retailers have had enough with brazen thefts every single day at stores from coast to coast. Walgreens is now trying a few different approaches, including a remodeled anti- theft store right here in the city.

[00:03:27]>> TA Yuing takes a look.

[00:03:32]>> A Chicago Walgreens has a prescription to treat store theft, and there are others like it across the country.

[00:03:40]Inside this Walgreens on Staten Roosevelt, right in the South Loop, the inside of the store looks like something straight out of the Jetsons. You need a card to make a payment. And if you don't see what you want here, behind this order pickup counter is a locked door full of merchandise that only an employee can get for you. But you must order and pay for it first. Back in May, Walgreens told local residents, quote, "This redesigned store will have the latest in e-commerce offerings to increase customer service, mitigate theft, and increase safety for customers and employees." Daryl agrees with it.

[00:04:12]feel in their mind they can walk to stores, take merchandise, do things they want to do because the city failed the people as well as the stores doing the looting.

[00:04:24]>> Justine lives in California and says locked up merchandise is common.

[00:04:28]>> It's honestly really annoying having to go and ask for help um just to get very simple commodities such as like toothpaste or things that you wouldn't necessarily have to ask for. In San Francisco, shoplifterss >> Yeah. So, you just steal, huh?

[00:04:43]>> Hit this store more than 20 times a day.

[00:04:46]As a result, Walgreens here was forced to lock up its freezer section after criminals came in each night to shoplift the entire supply of pizza and ice cream.

[00:04:55]>> This is very reactive, but I think there's more proactive approaches that you can take.

[00:05:00]>> I absolutely 1,000% agree there are more proactive things that can be done, such as being tougher on crime. But I mean, hey, we're talking about Chicago, right?

[00:05:09]But if you're tougher on crime, not allow death like this to go unpunished because of the domino effect it can have on communities such as eventually a business will have to do something like, you know, lock up everything in the store just to stop someone from stealing or worse yet completely closing the business down because it's not even worth it. It's not even worth it anymore to stay open in that neighborhood because it's costing them too much. How bad is that? Remember, these are businesses. If they're making money hand over fist and the store is profitable, do you really think that they're going to close down? Probably not, right? But when you are in these low income areas operating on thin margins and experiencing theft at such a high level, what do you really expect? Apparently, the residents in this Chicago area think that Walgreens has some obligation to just put up with the theft, put up with the violence, and remain open because it would be such an inconvenience for them to have to go a few miles to the next Walgreens that's not getting jacked every day. But let's get into this and take a listen.

[00:06:24]>> On the southside, people showed up to push back against a Walgreens closing.

[00:06:28]The doors are set to close next month.

[00:06:31]Walgreens says it's due to safety issues, but it will leave thousands without nearby access to life-saving medication. Tia Ewing has more.

[00:06:40]>> Everybody say Walgreens do right by us.

[00:06:42]>> Walgreens.

[00:06:44]>> Community members, leaders, and families rallied, saying the loss of this Walgreens at 86th in Cottage Grove won't just close a store, it will take away a critical lifeline.

[00:06:53]>> We're not here to beg Walgreens to stay.

[00:06:56]We are saying that their decision is the wrong decision. And in my opinion, it should be considered a firstderee corporate crime >> because the amount of people that would be hurt by this, the amount of elders that would not have access to healthcare is evil.

[00:07:11]>> Walgreens says the store is closing due to safety concerns, including theft and violence. But residents say that doesn't match what they see daytoday.

[00:07:19]>> The lie that they're telling us is it's a health or a loss prevention issue.

[00:07:25]When 12th and State Street had loss prevention, they redesigned Again, this neighborhood is not broke.

[00:07:31]>> So, let me stop it right there and just say this. Just because one store in a different part of the city was able to stay open despite a level of death doesn't mean another store can withstand that same level of theft or less or more. These stores operate independently when it comes to profits. And if they are already in a low-income neighborhood and if you and you heard him say a lot of the elderly people use it, how much profit are they really turning compared to other stores? And so you can't be pocket watching a business's finances because you don't know the numbers. Not like you think you do. But really the question I have is why are you out here protesting upset with Walgreens talking about do right by us? How about community do right by a business they know they depend on? How about you protest march demand that the mayor Brandon Johnson be tougher on crime instead of being so soft? If they want to protest, they should be protesting that. But instead they're mad that a business a business decided they don't want to stay open because it's too dangerous, too violent, and there's too much death. I mean, how much of the blue Kool-Aid are these particular black people drinking where in America that's what they're mad at? Not the criminals.

[00:08:48]And as a solution, they will be fine with everything basically being locked up.

[00:08:55]But let's continue.

[00:08:56]>> The nearest pharmacy will soon be more than a mile away, a distance residents say is especially hard for seniors.

[00:09:02]>> It has been a lifeline for many. It has been a place where seniors walk.

[00:09:08]Sometimes slowly, sometimes with assistance, but with dignity to pick up their medications that keep them alive.

[00:09:17]Not across town, not two bus rides away, right here in their community.

[00:09:24]>> For families managing serious health conditions, consistency is critical.

[00:09:28]>> 29 years, my husband has dealt with kidney issues. Two-time transplant. I'm one of the I donated the second one.

[00:09:36]Walgreens has been a staple in our lives where we come from medication. Being a transplant recipient, that means he's on lifelong medication. Something we don't have time to search for to find out where can we get what he needs. Over a year ago, Walgreens shuttered locations in Bronzeville, Little Village, South Chicago, and Southshore. Another specialty pharmacy is set to close on 71st Street in the coming weeks.

[00:10:00]Residents say this shows there's a pattern.

[00:10:03]>> They closed 63rd and King Drive. They closed 63rd in Hostage.

[00:10:07]>> They closed 47 in Ashlin. They closed 63rd in Ky.

[00:10:11]>> So it sounds like to me they had been given plenty of warning that they could not continue to operate like that. I wonder where where's BLM when you need them, right? Where all the woke activists who love to talk about how much they care about the black community. Where were they when all of this was happening? Why did they not come out and say, "We want the crime in our community cleaned up.

[00:10:36]We want the mayor to be tougher on crime, not softer, so that way we don't lose any more businesses." Right? Where where was all of that?

[00:10:50]But let's continue.

[00:10:51]>> To pick up prescriptions, it takes people 45 to an hour. Prescriptions will be automatically transferred after the store closes June 4th to a location about 1.3 miles away on East 87th Street. And patients will be eligible for 90 days of free delivery. But not everyone has reliable transportation. My aunt lives four blocks away from this Walgreens. She just recently got out the hospital to have emergency surgery. She doesn't have a vehicle. She doesn't have transportation. She doesn't have a way to get to the Walgreens on Stony Island unless I take off of work because her child, her only child lives in Michigan.

[00:11:33]>> Wow.

[00:11:34]>> So, this place isn't just a a a store on this corner.

[00:11:40]>> For some, the impact is personal and immediate. I have a 76 and 12 year old mother >> that had a lung transplant and the medications that she take compromises her immune system so she can't be around people. I'm holding a bag >> with medicine that my mother takes every single day >> for the rest of her life.

[00:12:04]>> Every pill bottle in here has a Walgreens cap on it. A loss residents say goes beyond convenience and directly affects access to care.

[00:12:12]>> I saw a Walgreens pharmacy and my wife was like, "That's a small Walgreens." I said, "No, that's just a pharmacy.

[00:12:19]>> That's all we're asking for."

[00:12:20]>> The closure is set to happen June 4th.

[00:12:22]Walgreens says employees won't lose their jobs. They have been offered positions at other locations.

[00:12:28]>> And so when you listen to these people's complaints, this is really just about convenience, which is not a right.

[00:12:35]It is not something that you are guaranteed. It's simply what it what it means. Convenience, a luxury. And you could lose those life conveniences when the people in a community like we see here, they they don't appreciate it enough or protect it because I mean, let's get one thing straight. If the store is rolling in profits, they would stay open. That's the bottom line. This is a business. They would eat the cost and keep the doors open. But that's how bad it is. And and so these residents, their their anger's directed in the wrong place. They should be angry at the criminals. They should have been drawing signs trying to get on the news because they were bringing attention to how tied they were with the violence and the theft in the community they live in that's affecting businesses.

[00:13:22]And they should have wanted their elected officials to step up and stand up for that. Where was the older men when it came to that, right? Where where was he at for that part of it?

[00:13:32]Because now it's too late. but instead they do what we expect from Democrats which is they say let's blame the evil corporation for looking out for itself and it's absolutely ridiculous. But those are my thoughts in the update. Now let me hear from you. Drop your comment down below. Appreciate what you guys chime in. Don't forget you enjoy the content. Smash that thumbs up for more.

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