Coffee shop set to close downtown Portland location due to ‘extreme violence’ and ‘crime’

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Portland small business success ‘dropped off’ due to rising crime: Darrel Hanson

Portland, OR small business owner Darrel Hanson says the city’s leadership is ‘shameful’ as crime rises in the city and says it ‘can be changed, but they’re not.’

A coffee chain closed a location in Portland, citing the "extreme" violence and crime that its employees have endured.

Portland was once viewed as a quirky city for artists and creatives on America’s west coast, but as crime and homelessness have spiked, businesses and citizens are fleeing for safer locations. 

Coava Coffee Roasters, a local Portland chain declared "with a heavy heart" that it will shut down one of its locations due to lawlessness in the area.

"We have decided to permanently close our downtown Portland cafe (1171 SW Jefferson St) with the last full day of operation being this Thursday, April 13," the chain wrote in an Instagram post. "The team members at this cafe have been on the front line enduring extreme violence and criminal activity on an almost daily basis for the last few years– crime and violence that is only increasing in frequency and severity.

​​​​​​​A Portland, Ore., police officer scans the crowd while dispersing protesters, Aug. 21, 2020.  (Getty Images)

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It added further that this crime has ranged "From theft, to physical displays of violence, threats of harm, break-ins, window smashing, and repeated traumatic in-cafe incidents where both staff and patrons feel unsafe."

The coffee chain went on to say it had tried multiple methods to mitigate lawlessness in that region of Portland.

"We have brought all the resources to bear that we have access to: doubling up on shifts, locking one entrance, de-escalation training, hazard pay, and heightened management oversight. This has proven to not be a temporary situation—and it is not a situation we can manage," Coava Coffee wrote. "Most importantly, it is not a situation where we can thrive. We cannot continue operation here as we cannot ensure the safety of our team and customers. Our neighboring businesses have seen it, too – and we’ve watched them close one by one over the past few years. Sadly, we now join them."

A homeless camp near the east side of the Hawthorne Bridge as smoke from wildfires fills the air in Portland, Oregon, U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020.  (Rebecca Smeyne/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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The numerous problems plaguing Portland and the state of Oregon in general have made headlines in recent weeks.

The Oregonian newspaper penned an editorial about the coastal state, particularly its city of Portland that was "once the darling of national media," seeing its population flee to other states in droves.

"As much as Oregon has to offer, our housing unaffordability, homelessness, increasing taxation, drug addiction crisis, untreated mental illness, gun violence, traffic deaths and educational mediocrity are changing the calculus for many about where to live, raise a family or retire," the paper wrote.

Graffiti on a building in Portland. (Portland Police Bureau )

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"Such little progress on both increasing housing and curbing unsanctioned camping is particularly frustrating, considering the state saw one of the biggest increases in its homeless population in the country from 2020 to 2022," the editorial board wrote. "Letting people live in the elements – many of whom suffer from untreated mental illness or substance addiction – without access to services and at greater risk of homicidal violence isn’t compassionate."