Governments need to make it easier for stores to operate

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, August 27, 2025

I will miss the Fred Meyer in Everett. We need to understand why the store is closing instead of complaining that the company is obsessed with making money (staying in business) or belittling the effects of theft (which makes staying in business harder) (“Kroger said theft a reason for Everett Fred Meyer closure; numbers say different,” The Herald, Aug.21). What are the costs that make running these stores bad business?

Theft is down but not gone, and theft is only part of the picture.

What are the regulations that drive the most cost for the least benefit? I don’t know the answer. I do know that every regulation requires time, record keeping, and money. If our state and local governments can’t get a handle on the business environment problem, Kroger may join the long list of companies that pull out of Washington.

I appreciate the writer who brought up the link between addiction and shoplifting theft. That was a constructive letter that could lead to some genuine improvement. What else can we do? What can we do to make a company want to fill the food deserts that these closures will create.

Ralph Semmes Jackson III

Everett