Amazon, Apple, Walmart, Others Shut Stores, Cut Operations In Protest-Hit Areas

A number of companies in the United States have decided to shutter their retail outlets and scale back on business in cities most disrupted by the protests organized in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

Apple

Apple Inc. AAPL 0.1% said it was keeping a number of its stores in the country closed on Sunday in light of the protests, without specifying how many stores, CNBC reported. It didn’t say whether the closures would be extended beyond Sunday if the protests continued.
The company has only been operating about half of its 271 U.S. stores due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The move follows the looting of a number of Apple retail outlets across the country, including in Minneapolis, Washington D.C., and Brooklyn.
Amazon
Amazon.com Inc. AMZN 1.72% sent out a notice to its part-time delivery executives across a dozen cities, including Minneapolis, Chicago, and Los Angeles, working under the Flex program, to stop making deliveries “immediately” and return home, as reported by CNBC.
The company adjusted the Flex schedule, under which drivers can deliver Amazon products using their own vehicles as an independent contractor and get paid, to match curfew timings across cities, CNBC noted.
Amazon’s subsidiary supermarket chain Whole Foods also said it was temporarily closing or reducing operating hours at a number of outlets across the country.

Walmart

Walmart Inc. WMT 0.21% had closed some of its stores in Minneapolis and Atlanta on Friday, after a few of them became a target of looting.
The retailer on Sunday said it was further closing several hundred stores across the country, according to CNBC.
Walmart said it would access the situation on an everyday basis, and some of the outlets could be reopened as soon as Monday if there’s no physical damage.

Target

Target Corporation TGT 3.36%, in a statement late Saturday, said it was shuttering 175 stores and reducing hours at a few others until further notice.
Chief Executive Officer Brian Cornell said the company was working to ensure that workers displaced as a result of the protests, including more than 200 from its Minneapolis Lake Street store, are supported, including “receiving full pay and benefits in the coming weeks.”
Among other retailers, Nike Inc. NKE 0.07% said it has temporarily shut some of its stores, and Adidas AG ADDYY 1.66% closed all its outlets, the Wall Street Journal reported.
https://www.benzinga.com/news/20/06/16146370/amazon-apple-walmart-other-retailers-shutter-stores-scale-back-operations-in-areas-worst-hit-with-pr

South Korea’s Celltrion: COVID-19 drug shows drop in viral load in animal testing

South Korea’s Celltrion Inc said on Monday its experimental treatment of COVID-19 demonstrated a 100-fold reduction in viral load of the disease in animal testing.
Drugmakers worldwide are rushing to develop treatments and vaccines for the illness that has caused more than 371,000 deaths globally.

The pre-clinical study of the drug showed improved recovery in runny nose, cough and body aches after the first day of treatment, and clearing of lung inflammation within six days, the company said in a statement.
Celltrion has research experience with other types of coronavirus conditions such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). It hopes to commence first in-human clinical trials for the COVID-19 treatment in July, said Kwon Ki-Sung, head of the firm’s research and development unit.

“(Celltrion) has the capability to roll out mass production of the therapeutic antibody treatment once it is ready,” Kwon said.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-treatment-celltrio/south-koreas-celltrion-says-covid-19-drug-shows-drop-in-viral-load-in-animal-testing-idUSKBN238116

Plastic’s Back! Covid Contamination Concerns Crush California ‘Green’ New Deal

Disposable plates, silverware, and straws are making a comeback in California. New guidelines issued by the CDC recommend restaurants use plasticware by default as a way to limit the spread of the virus upon reopening.
Environmental groups have become infuriated with the new recommendation, as it now means all their hard work to ban plastic straws and push a “Green” New Deal could come to an abrupt end (maybe temporarily) because according to the CDC, throwaway dishes, utensils, napkins, and tablecloths could reduce virus spread.
California recycling and clean water groups recently delivered a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, questioning how exactly plasticware diminishes the probabilities of contracting the virus and also accused petrochemical companies of “trying to influence CDC guidelines for reopening food establishments in their favor.”

“The idea that the CDC recommends that single-use disposable items should be preferred seems a little illogical to me,” Chris Slafter, interim coordinator of Clean Water Action’s ReThink Disposable program, which provides grants to restaurants and advises them on how to transition and replace plasticware to more sustainable products, told Politico. “Someone still has to handle that item before it goes into a customer’s hand.”

In pre-corona times, California and its green activists led the way in eliminating plastic straws and other petroleum‐based plastics from the restaurant industry as they have long criticized the items eventually end up in the oceans, polluting and killing wildlife.
We recently noted that microplastics have also ended up in human stool.
Now, in post-corona times, with California’s restaurant industry crashed (according to OpenTable data from late May), eateries that have been opened with carryout only and ones that have just fully reopened, have turned to plasticware over the CDC’s new sanitary guidelines.

OpenTable restaurant data through the end of May

Restaurants in other states have also followed the new guidelines with the switch to disposable menus, plates, silverware, etc.

However, Stanford University epidemiologist Steven Goodman does not see a difference in plasticware from regular plating, in terms of reducing virus spread, as he notes, there’s still human staff behind the scenes making the food.

“It doesn’t sound like there should be a big difference if they’re handled carefully,” Goodman said. “Washing the plates well should get rid of [the virus], and so the only difference could be how they’re handled between the time when they are on the table and in the sink or in the washing machine.”

Sharokina Shams, the California Restaurant Association’s vice president of public affairs, told Politico in an email response that “many of the current local public health orders (which are a response to the coronavirus pandemic) do put an emphasis on single-use products, and cities have been moving to suspend the ban on plastic bags.”

“It’s also interesting to note that the number of delivery and takeout orders went up during stay-at-home/shelter-in-place orders. If that becomes a long-term pattern, you may see the demand for single-use products rise,” said Shams. 

And just like that, who would’ve ever thought California’s green movement would get derailed by a virus.
https://www.zerohedge.com/health/plastics-back-covid-contamination-concerns-crush-californias-green-new-deal

NY state suspends liquor licenses over social distancing infractions

The state has suspended the liquor licenses of 18 establishments since late March because of social-distancing violations — including one in Queens that allegedly claims local racists are behind the move.
The Hangar 11 Bar & Grill in Kew Gardens landed in hot water after a flood of 311 calls complaining of such things as crowds milling around inside and out.
The State Liquor Authority says on its Web site that the Metropolitan Avenue bar had patrons buy a bag of chips just so the establishment could say it was selling them “food’’ to go along with their booze as required by law — and enough of a crowd was created that a flood of local residents called authorities to complain.
But a tweet apparently posted by the bar Friday, the day its license was temporarily suspended, said, “Due to the efforts of a tiny percentage of racist neighbors in our beautiful Kew Gardens neighborhood, we will be shut down for a few days.’’
The alleged tweet included the hash tags #staysafe, #icantbreathe and #racism sucks. It has since been taken down, but not before someone took a screenshot and sent it to The Post.
The bar tweeted the next day, “NYC is a melting pot. We have always welcomed everyone. Most of our 23,000 community members too. Just a handful of hateful and bored members flooding 311 with calls yet we’ve had zero fights.’’
The neighborhood around the bar is predominantly white, while the business attracts customers of all races.
There were 80 complaints lodged against the bar over social-distancing rules between March 20 and May 9, the liquor authority said. It is still closed and will face a hearing before the SLA over its license.
“The people who filed legitimate complaints received justice,” wrote a member of a Kew Gardens Facebook page.
Another resident was incensed over the bar’s tweets.
“The fact that they played the race card is so outrageous,’’ the person wrote on the closed page. “All I can say, this establishment seems to not understand the community they serve.’’
The bar did not respond to a request for comment from The Post.
Hangar was one of seven New York City establishments to have its liquor license temporarily suspended because of social-distancing issues amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Another Hangar, on Steinway Street in Astoria, Queens, also had its license yanked.
Other bars whose licenses were temporarily suspended included the Atlantic Boat Club in Brooklyn, Sam Ceccilio in Queens and St. Bee’s bar in The Bronx.
https://nypost.com/2020/05/31/ny-state-suspends-liquor-licenses-over-social-distancing-violations/

To keep the streets safe, New York City needs its crowds back

Anarchists are throwing bombs at cops, officers are driving into crowds and looters are smashing stores. That’s the good news. New York could survive a one-off riot. But the city has lost equilibrium — and has no leader.
It’s a fundamental test of Gotham’s ability to govern itself.
The only proper political response to street protests in a pandemic is: “Don’t protest.” Stay home. Corey Johnson, Scott Stringer, Eric Adams should go out together, unguarded, to say: “Go home, now. We will do one-on-one video calls with you. It does no good to George Floyd’s memory for more people to die of COVID.” Problem is, constructive advocates for change are staying home, without being told. Crowds, thus, are self-selected people, who are, by definition, heedless of personal safety.
So there aren’t enough responsible protesters to balance anarchists and looters. On a normal Saturday night, violent “protesters” wouldn’t get far — it would be hard to smash windows amid throngs of restaurant-goers and club kids, out for a good time.
Put aside sensationalist scenes, and this has been the city’s dilemma for months. Looting? We’ve had slow-motion looting since the lockdown started.
For the 28 days ’til Memorial Day, burglary, including theft of defenseless pets, soared 35 percent; auto theft rose by 63 percent.
These aren’t crimes of poverty, sending a message. They are crimes of opportunity. There are no — rational — eyes on the street.
Pointless violence? Murder is up — to 24 from 19 over the month until Memorial Day, plus four stabbing deaths in one day last week.
It isn’t that New York has suddenly become more violent. It’s urban disequilibrium. Mamadou Diallo, an essential Uber Eats worker, was shot and killed waiting for a bus — because subways were closed.
Empty streets provide opportunity for retaliation. Over the month, shooting victims have doubled, to 97 from 47. In mid-May, 16-year-old Tyquan Howard died on a Crown Heights sidewalk, his murder likely revenge for group-beating a teen girl.
It is really hard, perhaps impossible, to police your way out of lost equilibrium, though bail “reform” that looses violent suspects on streets hardly helps.
So Mayor Bill de Blasio’s riot strategy is wrong: He thinks the NYPD can get us out of this. It can’t. Policing is one tool to keep balance in a well-balanced city.
The NYPD is deploying the crowd-control tactics that it would for a parade. This is not that. These are anarchists who want to provoke police into bad action. The police are their props.
Police SUVs and guns are useless — and liabilities — unless police are going to drive or shoot into crowds. Let’s pray they will not, because de Blasio, in throwing crowds of police to face off with crowds of literal bomb-throwers for days on end, is counting on prayer.
All it takes is one loud noise.
A healthy community mostly polices itself. It has trusted leaders — elected, business, community — who can speak credibly to different groups, including unsavory ones.
It has elected officials who aren’t afraid to say: “It is wrong to throw IEDs at police officers, and doing so makes the police vulnerable to fear, anger and panicked actions.” But we don’t even have leaders who say that burgling pandemic-shuttered stores is unacceptable — and will be met with stronger charges for aggravating circumstances.
Paying criminals the compliment of demanding they act with self-restraint in a crisis would anger some anonymous scold on Twitter — so the political, business and community-organizer classes stay quiet.
We face months of this — and risk driving away our tax base, scared to come back and reopen in a city re-shuttered by wildcat unrest. That will solve poverty.
What we need, oddly, is a John Lindsay. Lindsay was flawed. But he didn’t hide behind his police. He went out — alone — in 1968 to face angry crowds and prevent rioting that killed other cities. De Blasio is no John Lindsay.
Who is?
Nicole Gelinas is a Manhattan Institute senior fellow.
https://nypost.com/2020/05/31/to-keep-the-streets-safe-new-york-city-needs-its-crowds-back/

Retailers, Restaurants Hit in Floyd Protests, Add to Coronavirus Damage

Many retailers and restaurants, already crippled by the coronavirus pandemic, are grappling with damage to their properties and new closures following protests sparked by the death of George Floyd that have sometimes turned violent.
From Minneapolis, where Mr. Floyd died while handcuffed and in police custody, to California and Georgia, big and small retailers and restaurants have shut locations in anticipation of violence or are working to rebuild after destruction over the past week.
Target Corp., Walmart Inc., Nike Inc. and small family businesses have collectively closed hundreds of locations or are recovering from looting and physical damage related to protests. Adidas said it was temporarily closing all its U.S. stores.
Many executives and business owners expressed solidarity with protesters, who object to broader issues of racism and social justice.
Around a dozen Walmart stores have been damaged, with more closed pre-emptively. That has included looting and other property damage, but no employees have been hurt, a Walmart spokesman said Sunday.
“What’s disturbing over the last 24 hours is it isn’t just at night,” the spokesman said. “We’ve even had issues this morning in broad daylight. We want to make sure our associates are safe.”
Walmart Chief Executive Doug McMillon said in a statement Friday that “this week is further proof we must remain vigilant in standing together against racism and discrimination.”
Target Corp., which is based in Minneapolis, over the weekend closed more than 200 U.S. stores, boarding up many of them pre-emptively, said a spokesman. The situation is fast-moving and some stores have reopened, in some cases with more limited hours, the spokesman said.
Last week, a Target store in south Minneapolis on Lake Street was one of the first U.S. businesses to be looted and badly damaged. Around seven Target stores have been damaged around the country, according to the company’s website.
“Most of those stores have damage where we anticipate we can open in the coming weeks, with the exception of the Lake Street store,” which Target aims to open by the end of the year, said the spokesman. Store workers will be paid for up to 14 days during store closures and can work at other locations, the company said.
“We are a community in pain,” Target Chief Executive Brian Cornell said in a statement Friday. “The murder of George Floyd has unleashed the pent-up pain of years,” he said.
Walmart and Target stores were open during the coronavirus pandemic that forced thousands of retailers and restaurants to shut in March and April, leading to millions of job losses.
Some of those businesses were just starting to reopen this month as protests kicked off following Mr. Floyd’s death during an arrest. Authorities have charged one of the arresting Minneapolis officers, Derek Chauvin, with third-degree murder and manslaughter. Mr. Chauvin was seen on video pressing his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck while Mr. Floyd begged for help.
In some cities, smaller businesses bore the brunt of the damage. In Minneapolis, a family-owned liquor store, an Indian restaurant, a chiropractor and other businesses were left in rubble near the closed Lake Street Target.
Cynthia Gerdes, co-founder of Hell’s Kitchen in downtown Minneapolis, shut down her 18-year-old restaurant due to the coronavirus in March. She had drawn up plans to start offering takeout in July, but is now weighing how Mr. Floyd’s death and the resulting unrest will impact the city’s business and reputation going forward.
“It’s a double whammy. It’s a gut punch,” said Ms. Gerdes, whose business depends on conventions and office workers downtown.
Ms. Gerdes said her building near one of the city’s main police stations is now boarded up, with some windows smashed. She put up a sign in her restaurant’s windows supporting the protesters, but wonders about how long the impact will last.
“It’s just so surreal at this point,” said Ms. Gerdes, who said she was exploring options for her establishment and 138 employees.
Bob Grewal, a Subway franchisee and development agent for the sandwich company in the Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., areas, said one of the chain’s stores in downtown Washington was looted and had its windows smashed Saturday night. The store had just begun to reopen with limited hours after being closed for the coronavirus.
“They were just starting back up. It’s just horrible,” he said.
Police arrested looters that had targeted another Subway location in the hard-hit Fairfax District in Los Angeles on Saturday night, Mr. Grewal said. That store had just invested in food to get running again. Owners are contacting insurance companies and assessing the damage now, he said.
“It’s crazy. I was hoping to start opening back up. And then this happens,” he said.
“These business owners have nothing to do with this,” Mr. Grewal said. “They are suffering. The communities are suffering.”
A Starbucks Corp. spokeswoman said that it closed some of its stores Saturday for the safety of its workers after people damaged a handful of locations.
McDonald’s Corp. said Sunday that the burger company and its franchisees closed a small number of restaurants temporarily and are beginning to reopen them where safe.
“We are working closely with our franchisees to understand the impact,” the company said.
Joe Erlinger, the president of the U.S. division, said that he was personally shaken by the unrest and planned to hold discussions across the company about how to allow for diversity and inclusion.
“Quite simply, I am appalled by recent events in Louisville, Georgia, New York and Minneapolis,” Mr. Erlinger said in a letter over the weekend. “I feel shaken and I know many of you do, too. I share your concerns, sadness, and anger.
Some Nike and Adidas stores in major U.S. cities were looted and damaged in the protests. A Nike spokesman said employees weren’t harmed. The company, which previously made NFL quarterback-turned-activist Colin Kaepernick the face of an advertising campaign, launched a “Don’t Do It” ad, offering a spin on its popular catchphrase.
“For once, Don’t Do It…Don’t pretend there’s not a problem in America, ” the company said in a film shared on Twitter on Friday.
Adidas retweeted its competitor’s ad, along with the message: “Together is how we move forward. Together is how we make a change.”

https://www.marketscreener.com/TARGET-CORPORATION-12291/news/Retailers-and-Restaurants-Hit-in-George-Floyd-Protests-Adding-to-Coronavirus-Damage-30702588/

Futures down more than 1% after rough weekend

Following a weekend of escalating violence across U.S. cities that’s knocked the coronavirus off the front page, S&P 500 futures are lower by 1.25% in Sunday evening action.
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3578853-futures-down-1-after-rough-weekend