Final Days of Furrier Punctuated By Increasingly Aggressive Protests and Eviction Proceedings

After reaching an agreement with his landlord, Tom Moyer Theatres Inc, to delay a demand to vacate the premises or face legal actions, Gregg Schumacher has announced the store will permanently close after 112 years on Thursday, May 31st. "With all of the death threats, bomb threats, and physical threats to myself, my family and my employees it has been like a shooting gallery where we are the target," says Schumacher. The cause of the forced shutdown of such an old and respected business in downtown Portland Oregon is not due to mismanagement, or lack of consumer demand for fashion luxury products. Schumacher Furs and Outerwear was allowed to be shouted, and pushed, and threatened out of business by a large group of, yowling, radical and militant anti fur haters, supported by the City Council, and the Portland Police in a passive bid of appeasement. Schumacher continued with the fact that; "the City Council members even issued a noise permit to the protestors so they could place loud speakers in front of the store and literally blast the customers out, making it near impossible to have a conversation with a customer, much less do any business." The Portland City Council has been consistent in its position by taking extreme care not to give unnecessary offense, despite the relish and sheer delight taken by the In Defense of Animals protestors in piling one increasingly vitriolic action atop another. It was only during the recent war protest in downtown Portland that some of the In Defense of Animal protestors were seen being arrested for violent actions related to their participation. "This is a clear case of the City of Portland refusing to protect the rights of a legitimate business which, for over a year and a half, has been consistently targeted by illegal acts including those of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), PETA and In Defense of Animals (IDA) have been involved in the aggressive protests." Says Schumacher, "I think the city has failed to capture or understand the essence of our situation. Many of these people are simply anarchists." said Schumacher. When Schumacher went before the Mayor, Tom Potter and City Council members with an appeal for help, and a request for the Portland Police to begin making arrests, when protestors violated City, State, or Federal laws, nothing was done. With the protestors receiving the passive support of the Portland Police and City Council, it was no contest. The effort was dead on arrival. The City Council suggested that Schumacher, "close on Saturdays, fog their windows, remove the window displays, or move out of the downtown area completely, and enter mediation". These recommendations would not be considered viable solutions for any retailer engaged in servicing and selling to the general public. "Why would we be expected to mediate with protestors?" says Schumacher, "in this country an individual should be protected against thugs, intimidation and extortion". The IDA demanded that Schumacher put tags on all their garments telling customers how the animals were killed. "Obviously," says Schumacher, "unless everyone in town is required to label steak, fish, eggs, leather and other products, this would not be something we would participate in. Even though it is a goal of the IDA and all their associated groups to remove leather and fur products from the market place we are not required to help disseminate their false propaganda." After months of protestors' abuse, and with no help from the Portland Police, the Mayor, or the Governor, Schumacher made the decision to evacuate and give up his downtown location in favor of moving to the suburbs and perhaps be done with the protestors, and have an end to the problem, but this was not to be so. Due to the high-end nature of Schumacher's luxury products one cannot just move the store to just any location; along with many other retail considerations overall demographics must be considered. This limits the number of possibilities. When Schumacher began the process of negotiating a new lease location he found that he was universally refused space by various select lease properties such as Bridgeport Village and Washington Square. Schumacher believes that the terrorists had gotten involved and that, directly or indirectly, they had influenced the property owners in their final decisions not to lease to Schumacher. The Anti-Fur Activists claim they had no part to play in the mall owner's decision, but the long-term effect of over a year and a half of protest more than did the job with the probability that the mall owners feared the possibility that the protestors would follow Schumacher to any new location. "I don't believe their decision was made based on our 112-year history of providing quality garments and storage services to an affluent group of consumers. Our customer base is made up of some of the best people in the world, they are tremendously loyal. In fact, the number of customers and people that have called, written or e-mailed us is unbelievable, they have been very supportive." A National viewpoint was offered by Teresa Platt, Executive Director of Fur Commission USA, a nonprofit trade association representing U.S. mink farmers in 28 states including Oregon, expressed shock at this failure of local policing. "No one could withstand a campaign of harassment like the one directed at the Schumacher family and their employees," commented Platt. "The Schumacher family has run a top-notch operation for over a hundred years and their beautiful shop features an impressive array of some of the finest garments on the planet. They will be missed." Platt added, "The loss is particularly sad since fur sales are strong as more and more people demand natural fiber clothing over synthetics for obvious reasons. Sadly, under pressure from a small group of extremists, Portland shopkeepers are being forced to surrender their ability to peacefully offer such choices to their customers."