E-commerce

Citizen protests force Amazon to close hubs, Target to shutter stores

Photo by istock.com

June 1, 2020

Protest demonstrations regarding the recent death of George Floyd, who died while being arrested by police in Minnesota, prompted Amazon to close hubs in several cities and Target to shutter stores around the U.S. this past weekend.

Amazon is reportedly pulling back on deliveries and adjusting delivery routes in Chicago, Portland and Los Angeles due to protest actions, according to a Bloomberg report.

"We are monitoring the situation closely and in a handful of cities we adjusted routes or scaled back typical operations to ensure the safety of our teams," an Amazon spokeswoman told Bloomberg.

Target, which is based in Minneapolis, had shut 32 stores and announced Sunday it would be closing dozens more around the country.

"We are a community in pain," Target CEO Brian Cornell said in a statement after Floyd's death. "That pain is not unique to the Twin Cities — it extends across America."