Retailers are braving a new crime wave that promises to be one of the most violent theft tactics yet. A van earlier this month crashed into Seattle boutique Rush Hour before thieves ran out and grabbed inventory. Just a few days later, the robbers were back, taking even more high-ticket items than the first time. […]
Tag: Retail Theft
1 in 3 Gen-Z shoppers steal from self checkout
Roughly one in three young shoppers in the U.S. has admitted to giving themselves five-finger discounts at self-checkout counters, a new survey shows. According to loan marketplace LendingTree, 31% of Gen-Z consumers have stolen items from self-checkout kiosks, compared to 15% of consumers of any age. Those figures come as businesses work to combat […]
Looters descend on downtown Philadelphia
Videos circulating on social media show large groups of people looting stores in Philadelphia’s Center City on Tuesday night. Police officers arrested between 15 and 20 people, many of them juveniles, Acting Police Commissioner John Stanford told reporters during a news conference. Two firearms were also recovered. The first 911 calls reporting break-ins came just […]
Downtown San Francisco is a “Retail Hellhole”
Retail giant Nordstrom’s flagship store in a San Francisco mall permanently closed this week, marking the latest store to fall as the city grapples with a glaring exodus of brick-and-mortar shops. The cause of the closure, according to a mall spokeswoman, included “unsafe conditions for customers, retailers, and employees, coupled with the fact that these […]
Mexican Cartels behind much of US retail theft
Retailers nationwide sustained nearly $100 billion worth of losses in 2021, the highest year on record, according to the National Retail Federation report published in September 2022. The growing number of cartel-run theft rings around the country drove that figure up from $70 billion in 2019. “Organized retail crime is leading to more brazen and […]