Newly crunched numbers are throwing cold water on the idea that out-of-control shoplifting forced Kroger to close five Pick ’n Save stores in and around Milwaukee last year. Police records show that most of the locations that went dark were actually seeing fewer theft-related reports over time, not more, raising sharper questions about why those particular stores landed on the chopping block.
Data That Pokes Holes In The Theft Storyline
According to a newsroom analysis by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, police incident reports from 2019 through 2024 show that seven of eight Pick ’n Save locations studied recorded declines in theft-related incidents. Across all eight stores, the average landed at about 28 theft-related incidents per year.
Some of the drops were steep. Reported theft incidents in Metcalfe Park fell roughly 71 percent over that period, while Midtown saw about a 37 percent decline. Oak Creek was the notable outlier with about a 17 percent increase. Overall, theft-related reports at the stores declined roughly 18 percent between the pandemic-era years and 2022 through 2024, according to the analysis. Taken together, the stores that were ultimately closed recorded an approximate 13 percent decline in theft-related incidents across that six-year window.
Corporate Spin, Store Closures And Food Access Fears
Kroger, the Cincinnati-based parent of Roundy’s and Pick ’n Save, announced in June 2025 that it would shutter dozens of underperforming locations nationwide, according to the Milwaukee Business Journal. That cutback list included five stores in Milwaukee County, including locations that had been anchors in their neighborhoods for years, a detail noted in coverage of the five local store closures.
As those stores went offline, Mayor Cavalier Johnson publicly shifted focus to food access and floated roughly $1 million in proposed support for neighborhood grocers, according to FOX6.
Mayor Says Kroger Pointed To “Shrinkage”
Mayor Johnson said the company did more than wave at broad economic headwinds when it explained the closures…