Trader Joe’s has dropped plans for a Portland grocery store after critics said it would spur gentrification, displace residents and perpetuate income inequality.
A statement released Monday said Trader Joe’s was taking a simple approach: “If a neighborhood does not want a Trader Joe’s, we understand, and we won’t open the store in question.”
The Portland Development Commission had offered the grocery company a $2.4 million incentive to open the store. Critics, including the Portland African American Leadership Forum, said it was in one of the most rapidly gentrifying zip codes in the nation.
