Police say Brooklyn Center Walmart at Shingle Creek Crossing has seen thousands of police responses over the past five years. The big box store has announced that it plans to close its doors on April 21.
RELATED: Brooklyn Center Walmart is closing permanently on April 21
In a statement to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, the company said the move was due to a failure to meet “financial expectations”.
Since opening in 2012, the Brooklyn Center Walmart has been a crime hotspot. Customers say they are not surprised by the closure due to increasing crime.
“Every other day we run in here and grab something and there’s a fight outside or you see someone running out with merchandise,” said Lauren Cole.
The Brooklyn Center Police Department said Walmart made 6,177 calls over the past five years. That’s double the number of calls compared to neighboring businesses like Super 8 and Cub Foods with 3,270 and 3,038 calls, respectively. All three companies top the city’s list for calls for services.
For more context, police say the Walmart in Brooklyn Park, just six miles away, had 1,679 calls for service over the past five years.
In the past, state lawmakers shared concerns that Walmart was sucking up public funds.
In 2017, the big box store agreed to pay an off-duty officer to patrol the Brooklyn Center store four days a week.
Having been an anchor store in the area for 10 years, customers told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS they hope the closure is a wake-up call.
“Let’s take care of our neighborhood and keep fun stuff around here so it can help other people who are unhappy and can’t go to other places to shop so they can have a place to shop here,” said Jason Cole.
The store has 350 employees and told city officials they are working to relocate that workforce to other locations.
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