Walgreens Shrugged

Illinois Review has a story headlined “Walgreens Abandons Chicago, Flees a Crime-Infested Downtown Under Pritzker and Johnson.”

Walgreens, one of Illinois’ most iconic companies, is the latest major corporation to abandon downtown Chicago – delivering another blow to Governor J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s claim that the city is safe and open for business.

The Deerfield-based pharmacy chain announced this week it will vacate its massive 200,000-square-foot office space inside Chicago’s Old Post Office, a redevelopment once hailed as proof of the city’s comeback. Instead, Walgreens plans to move back to the suburbs in January 2026, nearly seven years before its lease expires in 2032.

At its peak, the office housed 1,800 employees, serving as a corporate hub for operations and tech teams. But in a city now defined by retail theft, carjackings, and homelessness, downtown has become unrecognizable.

The Chicago Tribune has this editorial on the same story, mirrored on Yahoo, but the Trib plays down the crime aspect. The editorial notes that Walgreens’ move into the Old Post Office building was a triumph of former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s drive to bring businesses back downtown to revitalize it. That triumphant moment was “just seven years ago, but it feels like 70 years ago.”

Ayn Rand’s classic novel Atlas Shrugged is set in a dystopian future where the productive people of society are scorned and harassed by the government. The fruits of their production are shifted to people who game the system and exploit their influence with the government. One of the main characters refers to the mythical Atlas, who carried the world on his shoulders. What should Atlas do when the people of the world he carries attack him instead of being grateful? Shrug. If Rand’s dystopian future sounds like the present in many places, that’s the point.

The Illinois Review story continues:

This move follows a familiar pattern. In the past two years, Boeing, Caterpillar, Tyson Foods, and Citadel have all fled Chicago or Illinois entirely – citing high taxes, unsafe streets, and an anti-business environment. Walgreens’ decision shows even local, historic companies are no longer willing to risk it.

While Mayor Johnson insists downtown is “vibrant and thriving,” police reports tell a different story. Violent crime is still a major issue, and carjackings and robberies continue to plague the Loop and West Loop – precisely where companies like Walgreens tried to attract young professionals.

Chicago now leads the nation in murders and shootings for the 13th consecutive year. It also leads in the number of school-age children murdered or wounded by gunfire and in mass shootings – defined as three or more people shot. So far this year, there have been 55 mass shootings in the city.

Chicago’s murder rate is five times higher than New York’s and three times higher than Los Angeles. That’s not a perception problem – it’s a public safety crisis.

One of the strengths of America’s federal system is that when bad policy is made at the state or local level people can vote with their feet. Politicians driven by ideology pander to the unproductive, the lazy, and the criminal to the detriment of honest, law-abiding, and hard-working people. The ability of the latter to leave remains an important check.