Portland business permanently closes, citing concerns with crime

PORTLAND, Ore. — Marcy Landolfo is at her breaking point. This week marked the 15th break-in at Rains PDX within a year and a half.

Landolfo said most of those repairs at the Northeast Portland location were paid for out of pocket. Other times, she just left the windows boarded up.

"It’s just too much with the losses that are not covered by insurance, the damages, everything. It’s just not sustainable," Landolfo said.

KATU asked why Landolfo decided to close now, instead of keeping doors open through the holiday shopping season.

"The products that are being targeted are the very expensive winter products and I just felt like the minute I get those in the store they’re going to get stolen," she said.

Landolfo said she's worried about her employees, and no longer sees this location as a feasible business model.

"The problem is, as small businesses, we cannot sustain those types of losses and stay in business. I won’t even go into the numbers of how much has been out of pocket," she said.

When Rains was broken into in late October, KATU reached out to Mayor Ted Wheeler's office.

His team said they're working to increase funding for business repair grants through Prosper Portland. Landolfo said that's not enough.

"Paying for glass that’s great, but that is so surface and does nothing for the root cause of the problem, so it’s never going to change," she said.

The mayor's office also said they participated in a retail safety summit in October, and cited recent efforts to streamline the permitting process for things like storefront lighting.

KATU asked how that work is going, and we're still waiting to hear back at this time.