'Mayhem on Main Street': Retail Theft Epidemic Series

'Eye-Popping' Economic Footprint of Retail Theft
Retail theft delivers an economic blow for companies and communities

In this series, Mayhem on Main Street, the Washington Examiner will investigate the causes behind the scourge of shoplifting, the role of the cartels, the cost to stores big and small, and the complicity of lax prosecutors. Part three will focus on the economic impact. To read parts one and two, click here and here.

The crime wave has hit both run-of-the-mill retailers and luxury stores alike, and while some might claim that the individual thefts have a minimal economic footprint, taken together, the numbers involved are eye-popping.

The National Retail Federation, the world's largest retail trade association, found that in 2021, retail shrink amounted to a whopping $94.5 billion in losses.

To put that into perspective, that is nearly equivalent to the entire annual budget of the state of Florida and more than the annual expenditures of some major countries. It is also about equivalent to retail giant Target's entire revenue in 2022.

"It is growing. We're seeing a lot of open and brazen acts - I've been at this for over three decades, and shoplifting and professional shoplifting is not new, but in past decades, it's always been seen as more of an invisible crime," David Johnston, the National Retail Federation's vice president of asset protection and retail operations, told the Washington Examiner.

Johnston noted that retail theft varies in scope and scale, ranging from opportunistic shoplifters to smash-and-grab thefts to highly organized retail crime operations that involve transnational gangs. He said the uptick is now across the board, regardless of product type or price point.

Beyond just the numbers, though, the crime has become increasingly more aggressive, something that is a concern for businesses that want to keep customers and employees safe while shopping.

Some 80% of retailers surveyed reported that violence and aggression associated with organized retail crime increased in 2021 from the year before. That finding is anecdotally borne out by the viral videos of brazen and aggressive thefts in recent years.

"Now we're starting to see these large, open, brazen acts of shoplifting, which are causing more violence and threatening the safety and security of the consumer as well as the employee," Johnston said. washingtonexaminer.com


Both Parties Blame California's Prop 47 for ORC Surge
Democratic County Supervisor Condemns Ineffectual California State Laws Leading to 'Epidemic of Organized Retail Theft'
Democratic county supervisor David Canepa from San Mateo, Calif., condemned state laws that have proven ineffective in the face of an "epidemic of organized retail theft."

The San Mateo county supervisor has become increasingly outspoken about the shortcomings of Proposition 47 (popularly known as Prop. 47), which passed in 2014 and made retail thefts under $950 a misdemeanor instead of a felony.

"I had supported Proposition 47, which basically said you wouldn't prosecute - the crimes were much different at the level of up to $950. I thought it was a good idea at the time because I thought, we need to give people an opportunity, we need to give people a chance," Canepa told the local news affiliate.

"I made a mistake, it was a big mistake, and you have to acknowledge your mistake," the supervisor added. "By doing this, what we've done is we're letting people take thousands and thousands of dollars. And why should people be subjugated?"

Prop. 47 was co-written by then-San Francisco DA George Gascón who, in 2020, became the district attorney of Los Angeles. In 2018, Gascón maintained that he was "proud" to have been a part of drafting the bill and denounced "critics [who] have attempted to blame Prop. 47 for every social ill short of global warming. It's long past time to separate fact from fiction."

While Canepa was initially sympathetic to the push to decriminalize retail thefts, the normalization of robberies in broad daylight across the country has changed his mind.

"We need that other tool in the toolbox which is to make policy changes so the repeat offenders, the ones going in with this petty theft. If they're a habitual shoplifter, they're going to be held accountable," the official added. nationalreview.com

   RELATED: Calif. Dem Regrets Backing Liberal Crime Bill Amid Retail Theft 'Epidemic'


Body Cams to Fight Retail Crime Across the Pond
The UK's biggest grocery chain is offering body cameras to staff as it seeks to fight the 'scourge on society' of retail crime and abuse to staff

Tesco is giving all its frontline staff the chance to wear body cameras, The Mail on Sunday reported.

Tesco, the UK's biggest grocery chain, is giving all its frontline staff the chance to wear body cameras in a bid to deter crime and assault on workers, as first reported in The Mail on Sunday.

Physical assaults on Tesco staff have increased by a third since last year, and more than 200 workers are victims of "serious physical assaults" each month, the publication reported.

"Crime is a scourge on society, and an insult to shoppers and retail workers," Tesco CEO Ken Murphy wrote in an opinion piece for The Mail on Sunday. "It is time we put an end to it."

He said that though only a small number of customers are verbally and physically abusive towards staff, they have a "disproportionate impact."

Over the past four years, Tesco has invested £44 million (about $55.6 million) on security measures including door access systems, protection screens, and digital radios, Murphy said. But he emphasized that other changes were needed to deter criminals in the first place, including better cooperation between police and businesses. He also demanded changes in the law, such as making abuse and violence towards retail workers a specific offence in itself.

Other British grocery chains, including Sainsbury's, the Co-op, and Waitrose, have also offered body cameras to staff. Waitrose has begun offering uniformed officers free hot drinks in an attempt to deter shoplifters, and sister company John Lewis lets uniformed officers use its staff seating areas and bathrooms as well as its subsidized staff canteens. businessinsider.com


Another Retailer Takes Major Hit Over Theft
Dollar General expecting $100 million loss due to theft
Retailer Dollar General is expecting major financial losses in its most recent quarter, which it is attributing to retail theft.

The retailer's gross profit fell 126 basis points compared to last year, which Dollar General has attributed to "lower inventory markups and increased shrink," with shrink being a retail term to describe the loss of inventory through various means, such as theft. "Markdowns and inventory damages" were also cited as a factor in the retailer's losses.

"The shrink environment has continued to worsen," Kelly Dilts said Thursday during the company's second-quarter earnings call. "We now expect approximately $100 million of additional shrink headwind since last quarter's call."

Dilts has warned that the retailer is expecting its pressure from retail theft will continue and that inventory shrink will increase in the second half of 2023. However, some precautions will be taken to combat this problem, including "reducing our inventory position" and "improving execution in our stores."

Retail theft has been a growing problem within the United States. Retail giant Dick's Sporting Goods saw its profits plummet 23%. Due to these losses in profits, Dick's shares fell 24%. washingtonexaminer.com


Retailer On the Verge of Closing Stores Amid Theft Crisis
DC grocery store removing major name brands from beauty, health aisles to crackdown on theft

In May, the grocery chain increased security and locked up several products

A Giant grocery store in Washington D.C. is removing brands like Advil, Colgate and Tide from their shelves in an effort to avoid shutting down due to high rate of theft.

The grocery chain has already taken drastic steps to increase security. Giant shoppers will also be required to show their receipts before exiting the store, according to the Washington Post.

Giant introduced widespread changes to their stores in May by increasing security, limiting entrances and locking down some of their products. Kress said at the time that he's seen theft rise at least "tenfold in the last five years" and violence increase "exponentially."

"The alternative is worse for customers," he told the Post in May. "The last thing I want to do is close stores. But I've got to be able to run them safely and profitably." foxnews.com

 
Dollar General to donate $2.5M & remodel store in wake of Jacksonville shooting
Dollar General said it will donate $2.5 million in the wake of the Jacksonville, Florida, shooting that left three people dead at one of its stores, including a 19-year-old employee. The company also said it plans to fully remodel the store and then reopen it in late September or early October, saying that the location plays an important role in "providing daily necessities" to Jacksonville residents. The attack, which authorities called racially motivated, occurred on August 26, when the White suspect entered the Dollar General store and opened fire, killing Angela Carr, 52; Anolt Laguerre, Jr., 19 and Jerrald De'Shaun Gallion, 29. The suspect then took his own life.

Laguerre, also known as AJ, was working at Dollar General "while also pursuing his passion for video games by streaming on the side," according to a GoFundMe organized by his brother to raise money for his funeral services. Carr, an Uber driver, was killed while sitting in her car outside the store, while Gallion, a restaurant manager, was shot as he entered the store, according to the Jacksonville, Florida Times Union. All three victims were Black. The donations will be directed to "efforts and organizations focused on healing and hope for Jacksonville," Dollar General said in the Friday statement.  cbsnews.com


LA Times Op-Ed Column: Businesses keep complaining about shoplifting, but wage theft is a bigger crime
On the one hand, sporadic robberies inflated by retail lobbyists and media via eye-catching reports; on the other, the pervasive shortchanging of hourly workers by their employers.

Estimates of the scale of both phenomena are all over the map, but run into billions of dollars a year. Yet it's reasonable to conclude that, in terms of the direct impact on households, wage theft is the bigger deal.  latimes.com


Pleasanton council to provide direction on police use of 'situational cameras'

Organized retail theft an ongoing problem in Wichita

Zombie Amazon Fresh Stores
Amazon is reportedly getting into legal fights with landlords as 'zombie' Amazon Fresh stores pile up

Amazon is facing lawsuits from some landlords over its proposed Amazon Fresh grocery stores.

Amazon is reportedly getting into legal battles with landlords over properties where it was supposed to open Amazon Fresh grocery stores.

The latest example is on Long Island, just outside of New York City. There, Amazon is set to face off in court with Salisbury Partners, the New York Post reported on Saturday. In April 2022, Amazon signed a lease with Salisbury for a storefront in East Meadow.

The company repeatedly met with Amazon "to make them happy for months on end, and then in November 2022 they were nitpicking about things like the colors and a light," Mark Sagliocca, whose family manages Salisbury and the property in question, told the Post. "The more I think about it, it was a stall tactic," Sagliocca added.

Salisbury and Amazon are scheduled to appear in New York state supreme court in Nassau County on Sept. 22, the Post reported. The developer sued Amazon this past spring for $37 million, including unpaid rent on the property. Amazon claims that it has no obligation to pay any rent for the proposed store, according to the Post.

In New Jersey, another landlord is suing Amazon for $10 million after it invested in readying one of its properties for an Amazon Fresh store, the Post reported. Amazon has also faced lawsuits from landlords in Philadelphia and Seattle, according to the Post. businessinsider.com


JCPenney's $1B Turnaround Plan
Dallas, TX: JCPenney is spending $1 billion on store and online upgrades in latest bid to revive its business
JCPenney said Thursday it plans to spend more than $1 billion by the end of 2025 in a bid to revive the storied but troubled 121-year-old department store chain. The money is going toward remodeling JCPenney stores, upgrading its online shopping site and app, and making its supply network more efficient so that online orders are delivered more quickly. JCPenney's CEO Marc Rosen, who took the company's helm in November 2021 and has served as an executive at Levi Strauss and Walmart, is renewing the chain's focus on its core middle-income shoppers with affordable fashion and housewares. "Now is the time more than ever to lean into that and make sure that we're delivering that experience for our customer," Rosen said in an interview with The Associated Press. That's a change of tactics from previous management teams that pursued wealthier shoppers with offers of trendy items and major appliances.

As part of the plans unveiled Thursday, check-out stations that had been located throughout JCPenney's stores will be replaced with a single area of cashiers. Shoppers will also see brighter lighting and a fresh coat of paint. Store employees will be equipped with mobile devices to scan inventory and ring up shoppers' purchases. And the chain is making upgrades to its Wi-Fi networks to speed up in-store connections. But JCPenney is playing catch-up with its competitors - from discounters to department stores like Macy's and Walmart - that have been upgrading their stores and online businesses, underscoring the challenges faced by the retailer based in Plano, Texas. JCPenney, which emerged from Chapter 11 reorganization in December 2020 with new owners, not only has grappled with years of internal issues but also faces an uncertain economy that has challenged healthier department stores. normantranscript.com


Target Return Policy Goes Against the Grain
Target offers 1 year to return items from store brands

Retail experts explain the strategy behind Target's policy and what would cause it to change.

One thing that some parents have come to love about the brand is Target's one-year satisfaction guarantee - an unusually generous policy in retail, especially as some retailers start to charge for returns.

Target's policy says most items must be returned within 90 days and they must be in new condition or unopened. Debit- and credit-card holders with the company's branded RedCard receive an additional 30 days.

For any of the more than 45 private-label offerings Target sells, the policy says: "If you're not satisfied with any Target Owned Brand item, return it within one year with a receipt for an exchange or a refund."

"Target's return policy is extremely generous and is designed to build confidence in its own brand product and create a strong customer-service ethos," Neil Saunders, GlobalData's managing director for retail, told Insider.   businessinsider.com


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