'Wake-Up Call' on Retail Crime
Retail crime significantly under-reported, new report finds
From credit card fraud and shoplifting, through to threatening behaviour, criminal damage and physical assault, new data suggests that retail crime could be worse than official numbers show.

According to research released by Retail NZ on Monday, nearly 40% of retail crime isn’t reported to the police.

There were a number of reasons for this, Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young said, including low value items not being worth the effort, the retailer discovering the offence too late or dealing with it directly.

Some also raised concerns that police wouldn’t do anything, Young said.

Of the 1500 stores across New Zealand and online surveyed, 99% experienced some form of retail crime or anti-social behaviour, totalling 140,746 incidences.

“Every day, retailers are dealing with threatening, violent or simply unpleasant customers, who are trying to steal or damage their property.

“Almost every retail worker has been affected by crime and aggression which is traumatic for those directly involved and their colleagues.”

The fact that not all of these offences were being reported posed a serious health and safety issue for retail employers, Young added. thepost.co.nz


Target is Ditching Self-Checkout to Fight Theft
Target rips out self-checkouts as retail thefts plague stores
Self-checkout is checking out. Target is removing self-checkout stations from stores as thieves use the kiosks to conduct their crimes.

Last March, the popular chain announced plans to limit self-checkout to 10 items and limit or remove self-checkout kiosks amid complaints about clunky technology and concerns about rising theft. Along with paring back customers’ self-checkout hauls, stores will expand the number of traditional checkout lanes available.

“The target I live near completely got rid of self checkout,” the user wrote. Plenty of others replied to the thread claiming their local Target had done the same. And shoppers are not happy with having to wait to have an employee scan their items.

Despite customer frustration, Target attributed the change partly to shifting consumer patterns, as shoppers prefered self-checkout during the height of the pandemic when customers sought minimal contact with others.

The shift also conveinetly comes as Target has recognized a surge in organized retail crime plaguing its stores — and many other popular retailers — nationwide and forcing some to shutter.

A California thief used Target’s self-checkout service to snatch over $60,000 worth of merchandise during a shoplifting spree spanning across 100 visits to the retail store.

In New York, retailers have bemoaned organized shoplifting rings cost them a staggering $4.4 billion a year to supply the booming shadow resale economy. Shoplifting in New York City alone rose 64% from June 2019 to June 2023, according to the Council on Criminal Justice. nypost.com


$1.6M in 'Emergency' Funding for Silent Panic Buttons in NYC Bodegas
Adams says 500 NYC bodegas will get silent panic buttons in $1.6M initiative
The city is planning to put panic buttons linked to the NYPD in about 500 bodegas across the five boroughs, the mayor and police commissioner announced Sunday.

Mayor Adams and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the city will allocate $1.6 million through an emergency grant to the United Bodegas of America, as part of the city budget, to equip the bodegas with “Silent Shield” buttons that would link cameras in the food stores to the Police Department in real time.

The move comes after a string of recent killings in city bodegas, including a fatal stabbing in Harlem early Saturday, and two slayings in a 48-hour period last month — one at the Ameer Deli & Grill in Inwood, where a 24-year-old man was fatally knifed during a brawl, and the second outside the Shak Deli in Williamsbridge, the Bronx, where Sorai King, 20, was fatally shot.

“Bodegas are part of the heart and soul of New York City. They are on every corner; they are there for us at all hours, Adams said Sunday. “This program will bring peace of mind to our bodega owners. … We’re telling these small businesses: Your city has your back.”

United Bodegas of America spokesman Fernando Mateo called the alarms a “game changer.” His organization has long asked city and state officials to fund buttons in all 25,000 of the city’s bodegas.

Alex Mike, the manager at the Gourmet Deli on 51st St. at Eighth Ave., told the Daily News on Sunday that a panic button would be a boon, and that he’s been in situations where he’s needed to quietly summon the cops to his 24-hour store.   nydailynews.com


Mass Shootings in the US Fast Facts

Haywood County 2024 crime report shows post-Helene impact: sheriff
 

CEOs vs. Trump's Tariff Policy
CEOs to Trump: It's time to make a trade war deal

The mood in the C-suite is growing sour as more CEOs get more vocal over tariffs

The bloom is very much off the rose when it comes to the business community’s embrace of President Donald Trump’s second term. With his imposition of steep tariffs on virtually every country around the globe threatening to tip the United States into a recession, CEOs are pleading with the president to start making those deals he likes to boast about.

The mood in C-suites around the country was summed up by Goldman Sachs (GS) CEO David Solomon, who said in a recent Bloomberg interview that “the policy actions to date have raised the level of uncertainty to a degree I do not think is healthy for investment and growth.” He’s not alone. “As I am talking to CEOs, talking to our clients, they are holding back on investment, and they are certainly tightening their belts,” he said.

Trump’s “Liberation Day” on April 2, when he announced the steepest tariffs the country has seen in over a century, left executives reeling. Last month, the CEOs of Walmart and Target privately warned Trump in an Oval office meeting that his tariff policy could disrupt supply chains and lead to empty shelves in the coming weeks, CBS News reported.

Virgin Group CEO Richard Branson was one of the first business leaders to plead publicly with Trump to back away from his tariff policy. In an April 7 post on X, he said the Trump administration needed to “own up to a colossal mistake and change course” before the economic fallout spreads.

Since then, the CEOs of American Airlines, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and many other major U.S. companies have publicly warned that uncertainty over tariffs makes it difficult to formulate business plans and is dampening consumer sentiment. qz.com


Walmart's First 'Store of the Future'
Walmart opens first new Supercenter in 4 years

The retailer’s location in Texas, which is its first “Store of the Future” in the U.S., is focused on innovation and caters offerings to regional customers.

Part of a larger multimillion-dollar modernization plan, Walmart opened its first ground-up Supercenter store in four years and its first under the “Store of the Future” model in the U.S., according to a Wednesday press release.

The new space — located in Cypress, Texas — features a full-service fuel station, an updated vision care center, storewide digital shelf labels and more. Additionally, the store caters to regional preferences with additions such as a Hispanic bakery section and a fresh tortilla maker.

The retailer plans to open four additional Supercenters across the U.S. in 2025 and convert two existing stores into full Supercenters.

Walmart is going big on store innovation as it acts on its 2025 growth plans.

“This store was built with the customer in mind,” Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner said in a statement. “It’s part of a larger transformation happening across our stores as we reimagine what shopping looks like for the future.”  retaildive.com


How Will Tariffs Impact Summer Retail Sales?
Will Retailers See a Summer Sales Slump This Year Due to Tariffs and a Weak US Dollar?
It could be a bumpy summer concerning retail sales figures, according to Modern Retail. The combined forces of ongoing tariffs, market uncertainty, and a weakening U.S. dollar could keep American consumers at home, rather than out spending their hard-earned cash.

Citing March data from KPMG, the outlet’s Mitchell Parton indicated that of the 1,500 individuals surveyed, three-fifths (60%) have begun to track their spending more carefully. The majority of those polled also indicated that they expect a recession to take shape over the course of the next year. About 16% of respondents suggested that they were set to increase their discretionary spending this summer — that is, on categories like restaurants, clothing, and entertainment — a result that was down two points from the same reading in 2024.

Parton went on to detail a second study pointing toward similar results.

“In a separate study, performance marketing firm Wunderkind surveyed 300 U.S. consumers and found 37% of them plan to reduce spending during the summer and holidays. Thirty-two percent of those consumers said they plan to focus on buying essentials, and 42% said they’re hunting for discounts,” he wrote.  retailwire.com


Couche-Tard, 7-Eleven parent enter non-disclosure agreement

In-N-Out Burger Is Opening 7 New Locations in 4 States