Walgreens Closing Stores Over Shoplifting Fears 

This is insane. So they can just steal $949 worth of stuff and walk out the door with no one doing anything? I would close my doors too.

What I find more disgusting than the thieves and opportunists taking advantage of these asinine laws are the people defending them and the mayor avoiding responsibility.

I don’t blame Walgreens and Target for closing stores there.

I like how this story makes it out like it's just normal that people steal and it's because of addiction. HOLD PEOPLE ACCOUNTIBLE NBC, make these people out to be what they are, CRIMINALS. My Walgreens are really nice, very little theft, low crime and guess what, I don't live in a big blue city...

Dude wants to blame Walgreens but wont come out and say it because he knows he is full of crap. You can't blame Walgreens if employees are to scared to work in stores that are continually robbed. That is a natural reaction to violence.

It's sad that people are stealing from retail pharmacies like Walgreens. We're in a difficult time and local pharmacy's are needed to pickup medical supplies like allergy meds, diabetes meds.

As a former employee I can testify that this is a pervasive problem pre-pandemic. The company provides little to no security, and the police aren't interested in petty theft. Repeat offenders were the norm, in part because the law was linient, and it was rare to go a shift without incident! Customers used to get annoyed when half the store's items were under lock and key but we had no choice.

It's amazing how much work you put into making sure actual thrives are portrayed as victims. In countries with better drug policies/justice systems, they recognize that addiction is an issue, they also recognize the actual *crime* involved. You go to treatment/rehab, it isn't optional, it's better for them and for everyone else. We need to get our s*** together in this country and recognize mandatory treatment isn't cruel and inhumane, giving out drugs and needles and keeping those gripped by hard drugs on their hard drugs just might be though. Detain them, treat them, and release them ONLY once it's clear the individual has recovered and poses no further threat, why is this rocket surgery, people need help not victimization.

It is not 'shoplifting' it is theft. We collectively have romanticized this crime, and continually push the thresholds upward before action is taken. Now a new wave of professional thieves, alone or in groups, have been stealing in ever increasing numbers and boldness. We give permission to this theft every time the thief is released with little to no consequences. Welcome to your own demise!

Things like this is what it comes to mind when people ask things like "How come we can have some of those nice shops, businesses and jobs in our community?" . Sadly some people cannot be given an the space or they will steal as much as they are allowed to. Sadly this last idea has been qualified as "Repression".

A few thieves can make life difficult for the store owner, the employees, and near by residents that rely on the store. What’s even more criminal is when caught then released the criminals will be right back at it.

What a shame. And the crazy thing is it’s not always the poor people that steal stuff. I remember a few celebrities getting locked up for stealing just for the thrill of it. I wish they could maybe only allow two people in at a time or something… I don’t know😔

No retail employee gets paid enough to deal with organize crime.

Way to go Walgreens, a great business decision!!

My parents taught me never to steal anything I haven't worked for, earned or deserved. I still honor that lesson.

The changing of this law was all about fudging with the numbers. Felony crime goes down not because the actual acts decreased, but because of reclassification. It’s about conveying a positive spin on something that in reality hasn’t changed anything at best or increased criminal activity in general at worst.

This is actually an old problem. The fact is that media is part and parcel of this problem. I worked in a store that decided the theft rate was just enough icing on the cake to close the particular location. Walgreen and others are doing exactly what they should do Move on if the location is either unsafe or unprofitable. After all, they are a business working to make a profit.

Looting stores doesn’t alleviate poverty, it creates poverty. Now 50+ people are going to be out of work and there’s going to be a reduction in services available to those areas.

The criminals in the security videos should not have their privilege of having their fades blurred. 😤

"Crime has been falling steadily for 20 years. So this is not exactly a crime wave." This is the problem. As far as the state and MSM are concerned, unreported or decriminalized crimes never happened at all. Their strategy for reducing crime statistics is to simply stop recording them.

It happened in my city too. My husband saw someone shoplifting at walgreens and alerted the employees. They told him they couldnt do anything. So the guys just took what he wanted and walked out without anyone chasing him

There is no reason this should not be resolved!! Having to shut down due to uncontrollable theft is beyond my comprehension!! I don not understand why they can’t stop it??

Good for the company! If the community wanted to keep stores they would do whatever it takes to stop the thieves, not justify them.

I hate to hear this! Something needs to be done! It is like this in Walmart AND Menard's! They steal like crazy at these stores! Sad, just sad!

Being poor or rich, there's no excuse for a lack of morals.

The mayor and city council are blaming Walgreens saying theft wasn't that bad. You can't make this up.

You know you have nothing to lose when you steal from a store, and go right outside to sell what you stole.🤔

This is wonderful news!!! Mom and Pop stores can return to the neighborhoods. People who patronize and support their own communities. Corporations can kick rocks. Power to the people, take advantage of this opportunity

don't blame Walgreens, blame the thieves that are getting more bold, ask them and they all say insurance will pay the stores, but that is now how it works, and now jobs being lost and stores closing and making it harder and harder for some parts of population to get what they need. seen folks walking out with whole duffel bag full of product and try to stop them and next thing your surrounded by folks coming in from outside and from all around, who are working with them.

During this pandemic we have seen the true characters of this culture of people. It’s disgusting

Stores don’t stay open when they can’t make money. They don’t make money when people steal things.

That graph is very true. I've experienced it first hand. They ask people to do more and more on these jobs. And the pay doesn't go up. Even if it did, people still couldn't handle the work load these corporations keep putting on them. The staff gets smaller and smaller to do the same amount of work. Not to mention a lot of other basics these jobs neglect, training, proper functioning tools for the job, etc. What's frustrating is if the did things right, they would make a ton of money. They don't have to go to these measures. If you have a properly functioning business, you'll be making money hand over foot.

I live in Illinois and I witnessed this happen as I was being checked out by the manager. A guy just came in the front door and ran to the pharmacy. Manager took after him telling me it happens all the time. This was pre-pandemic about 5 years (around) ago. We have one on almost every corner. I don't know if he was caught or not. It wasn't my usual Walgreens store. It does happen. 😡😡😡

And Unfortunately some people were never disciplined enough, to Not Steal.

I remember learning that many years ago grocery stores did not have aisles that customers would walk through. There was only a small area where the customers would stand and the bulk of a store was not accessible to customers. The shelves with products were only accessible to employees and not to customers. The customers would hand their grocery list to one of the clerks, the clerk would go in the back room and gather together the groceries that customer wanted. Having a store modeled like that sounds better than no store at all.

Good on NBC for reporting this. Most outlets blame anything but the shoplifters for so many stores suddenly closing. Credit where it's due.

Fears? They're tired of losing revenue. It's a good business move, actually.

I’ve watched it happen in San Diego at a CVS. All the cashier loudly said was “hay do you want to pay for that?” Young man with an arm full of stuff didn’t even look up or say anything he just walked out of the door eating something.

The California governor should stop trying to pass laws about gender neutral toy aisles, and start passing laws to help keep people safe from thieves in his state.

A loophole for crime needs to be closed right away. You can’t allow a crime just because it’s below an arbitrary threshold. Stealing is stealing.

I managed a store here in Houston and I can’t even tell you how many people would steal but come in looking like friends, then one distracts sales associate and tries to get them all over the place and flustered. Next thing you know the others would run out some times with full racks of clothes. Needless to say I now own my own my clothing brand….e-commerce only lol. Working retail ruined my dream of ever owning a boutique.

When I was 8 years old, I stole a bottle of Elmer's glue at 29¢. I did it on a dare. 68 now and still feel guilty.

Love how NBC passive aggressively (and subtlety) spins it so it justifies the lawlessness and supports the criminals. This crime doesn't happen in our state.

Service merchandise had it right. There was 1 usually fake product on the floor. You took a tag and the item was sent from the warehouse to the front via conveyor belt. Limited to no shoplifting.

Some things people need to understand about Retail Fraud: 1: "Stealing a little bit won't hurt a big company." You're right, it won't. But, you know how if you put change in a jar, eventually you get like a thousand dollars worth of coins. Yeah, if people steal a little bit everywhere it will add up just like that. 2. Employee safety. Look, these people are either homeless or pure criminals and sometimes your everyday folk. Both of them have a high chance of attacking a employee who tries to stop them. (Or they perceive as trying to stop them) The Homeless have nothing to lose, but a bunch to gain by shoplifting. They either get what they need or get a bed to sleep on in jail. The average "person" has their personal life to lose if they get caught. The criminal has their operation to lose if they get caught. Going off of this, if an employee gets injured/killed by a shoplifter guess who gets sued? The employer, it has happened, and it can happen again. 3: Shoplifting is not a case of, "Big Business vs. Someone who is trying to survive" It's not that. Watch what they steal, its not food. It's clothing, pills, makeup, power tools, even generators. Those won't feed you, what they will do is net you a pretty penny that can make up a nice car payment, or small amount of drugs, or an Xbox (Or playstation) It's not to survive, stop lieing to yourself. 4: If you haven't worked retail, you won't understand how frustrating it is to see someone basically say, "Screw you, I'm taking your the stuff you worked so hard to set up and not even gonna pay for it." 5: Retail Fraud is NOT a victimless crime. It's the common consumer that is the victim. Look at it like this, Store has 50 items in stock. Store puts it on sale and some folks who are on a tight budget are able to get it. Now someone comes along and steals 25 of them. Store lost money on all those, so they decide to not reduce the price. Now the are down to 10, and since they are clearly in demand, they raise to price on the last few to make more money. In addition, since the system still thinks those 25 items are there, corporate doesn't see the need to send more as urgently as they should. And people trying to make ends meet are screwed out of something they need cause either A: It's too expensive or B: They don't have it. Don't be romanticizing crime unless you yourself have been a victim of it, and at that point, you won't think very highly of it.

EVERY STORE NEEDS TO CLOSE AND LEAVE ANY PLACE WHERE THIS HAPPENS

When people believe they are above the law a recurring theme in our country escalates especially when it seems like there's no consequences. When those leaders seem to get away with breaking the laws then it opens up the country for crime.

Today a year later and Walgreens is now stating they may have exaggerated the shoplifting epidemic since none of the actual end of year numbers are adding up to the problem they were reporting early in the year. Shocker.

If I owned Walgreens, I’d shut these locations down too.

How do you guys turn “stores closing due to shop lifting” into “retail workers don’t make enough” and “it’s really not that bad social media makes it look bad”

At least 10 years ago in a Downtown Chicago Walgreens witnessing shoplifting in progress I ran to the front of store and yelled to the clerk, “My ex-husband is stealing all the Caress Body Lotion!” So accustomed the clerk simply responded, “Again...”

When I use to work for rite aid, the manager had me tackling people to get the stuff back and I was a regular worker making minimum wage. I don't feel bad for this billion dollar company. TAKE WHAT YOU CAN, GIVE NOTHING BACK

So if you steal "only" $949 worth of merchandise per person, that is a misdemeanor and SFPD won't make an arrest? So 10 shoplifters walk in and each grabs $900 each, so the store loses $9000 and SFPD won't do anything? No store can withstand those type of losses very many times. If you want stores for the community, then you have to protect the stores, not leave them wide open to unending looting.

Good for them! I don’t blame them, although I’d miss them. I’m thankful to have stores around me. Some people have no respect, no care, no morals, no values. It’s sad.

Blaming companies because city allows legalized theft. You can’t make this stuff up.

A social worker said one day...when in CA residents do not have money...chain stores and others who show money will suffer the consequences. That's exactly what we are seeing...families living under bridges, unable to pay a doctor, a dentist, most important food while their owners are going to space for a joy ride. Now you know why corruption exists in Mexico and other poor countries.

How are folks walking out with nearly $1000 of stolen goods when I get accused of stealing while I’m paying or trying to walk out with the receipt in my hand?

Stores that are unprofitable must be closed. There's really no alternative. And that makes life much harder for nearby residents who don't own cars.

These thugs are making it hard and hard for people that live in these communities to get what they need. If you know of someone that has taken part in these thefts you should turn them in immediately. I would also like to see WalGreen's offer a reward to people who turn in shoplifters that are prosecuted.

Good for you Walgreens. 👏🏻

Walgreens had money to at least try to stay and they did try. Imagine the small businesses who don’t have the money and can’t stay.

There are so many people who rely on Walgreens and other drug stores for their medication, most of them elderly! There's also a tons of people who need those jobs too. The laws need to change, the criminals need to be arrested, and the wages for these jobs need to go up!

I have yet to hear about a Ma and Pa pharmacy getting robbed like this. I'm not entirely opposed to having a mega huge pharmacy closing. I couldn't be happier when our residents forced Walmart to leave the town because the Ma and Pa shops were cheaper.

Oh sure leave it to the “expert” to blame everyone EXCEPT the actual criminals. What is with people coddling criminals?

I feel sorry for whatever retailers these thieves are going to turn to once the pharmacies have packed up and left.

It’s a legitimate fear. Shoplifting is rampant and has been for too long. The legal system these days is a joke. Criminal and special interest groups have wrecked this country.

You hit the nail on the head. The rich have gotten greedy and forgotten who made their wealth possible. Higher wages and more time with family for all workers is a must. Although I don’t condone theft that’s not the answer.

The looters profitted and the communities lost convenient access to healthcare items and prescriptions. Sorry to the sick and elderly. Any community that allows this to happen isn't one I'd want to live in.

Sad thing is the store mangers and employees have to deal with the heavy loss, the district manager's will still get their bonus payouts.

If you haven’t been to San Francisco lately you’ll see that homelessness has skyrocketed. It’s insane!

The threshhold for theft should be exactly $0 and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent!

When you can't do anything to protect your own property what deterrence does anyone have from taking it from you? Some of these stores should have a remote lock to the front door if they catch others shoplifting. Detain them or do w/e they need to.

We are rapidly entering an era when retail sales are going to end and everyone is going to have to buy EVERYTHING they need online. Malls are already closing all over the country because of theft, the cost of maintaining a security force and idle teenagers hanging around and becoming a nuisance to genuine shoppers. All retail stores are going to follow them at some point. I sometimes wonder if Jeff Bezos foresaw all this before anyone else or if he just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I hope some other business becomes an internet retail giant to rival Amazon, so they wont have a online retail monopoly moving forward. And hopefully the Republicans will nominate someone who isn't a useless POS in 2024.

Walgreens has the no confrontation policy. They need to invest in security like Walmart and you get in trouble for not reporting theft as an employee. Walmart will tackle people who want to steal

The actions of a few always hurt everyone else.

I live in San Francisco and shop at Walgreens almost every day. Walgreens just shut down the store they had on Market and Van Ness because of rampant shoplifting. Now I use the Walgreens on 9th and Market and they're barely hanging on. Not only because of shoplifting but also vandalism. Just within this year vandals have smashed six 9' x 7' windows. Things were so bad that the SFPD placed two officers in the store for a couple of weeks. Now the store has 3 brawny security guards but people are still shoplifting. Some guy yesterday was caught stealing about a dozen containers of Jello with fruit cocktail in it and when he got caught he started throwing them at the security guards and cashiers. Last week a transexual stole about 30 cosmetic items. Lipsticks, eyelashes, makeup cases. So much stuff that everything fell on the floor with a loud crash as this person was walking out the door.

Gotta love how at the end they try putting the blame on Walgreens for closing. Even just saying that these are places that are now "left without a pharmacy." The people in those places didnt really treat it like they wanted to keep it.

When a person is arrested over and over, slapped on the hand and let go they will keep doing this and more will join.

I love how the gentleman talks about the gap between the haves and have Nots. Let’s sit there and think about that for a moment that neighborhood had it mind you he sucked but it’s a living take into account the crime has raised in the city despite what the numbers show. Factor in it doesn’t pay for that store location to be open when is hundreds of thousand dollars a month form Petty Theft and you have the answer right their . It not about the haves & have nots . It about the neighborhood itself who suffer because the actions of others . Who now put a burden on those who need to travel further to get medications.

Excellent job performance of the lawmakers and prosecutors. Really commendable. Neighborhoods go downhill fast when it gets so bad the stores leave. Now old people/poor people get to take excursions involving multiple busses/trains to travel 45 minutes to buy medicine or normally priced food. Their world narrows down, and the things these government people enjoy as a matter of course, move into the realm of the unobtainable. But hey, theft prosecutions are wayyyy down.

I'd like to know where this reporter got the numbers for the "average retail" salary? He said it was $27,000 per year. Where? Since most retail companies are NOT paying a living $15.00 per hr wage, that $27,000 could only be achieved through full time work. That would be approximately $13.00 per hr at 40 hours per week. And for anyone who actually works retail, they already know that companies DON'T want to have workers at full time so the don't have to offer them benefits. A more realistic yearly salary estimate should have been around $21,000. And even this is generous.

The causes are multiple. A perfect storm of less people going to church. Greed by corporate shareholders and ceo's, rising addiction from desperate who were raised in poor homes . And what makes it crazy is much of it can be avoided because the few companies that do pay higher wages and have more incentive programs actually do better and stay in business and even thrive through slow times.

I hope the Walgreens in the Bay Area have a delivery option. This was going on when I was last out there in 2005.

This is what causes food deserts and why grocery stores won't open there.

Can’t you just close the front end and leave rx drive through open? Order/pay online and pickup at the front door? Walgreens has those huge vestibules, convert them into some kind of secure pickup area; scan ID/Walgreens card and enter order # to get into first door, hand off products to customer and have an armed guard escort them to their car. No longer having to deal directly with the public will bring in more employees and customers would feel safer not having to shop with dangerous criminals all over the stores.

Another suggested solution. Have a registration system, where you can’t come in unless you schedule entry through the store’s app. And the stores’ doors are locked to anyone who isn’t registered.

It’s a good thing Target and Walgreens are closing their doors in certain area. People are able to walk into these stores to take what they want and walk out. The business are losing revenue when shoplifting happens. Start criminalizing shoplifting and hold these people accountable for their actions. This is why I left retail for good.

Blame the community for not managing their people. Workers don't get pay enough to see and manage these kind of act. Simple as that. 💯

The Walgreens near me treated me horrible a couple of times I had to call corporate - I use CVS 🙃

It's because everyone is afraid of being sued for doing something wrong

I used to work for loss prevention in CA, and even though I have the cops a plate number they never did anything. So it isn’t the law In my opinion

Question is, what other entities are going to follow suit into these closures? Walgreens is not the only ones getting robbed. I feel that the closing of stores will push thieves into nicer neighborhoods. Cali has it's priorities in the wrong places and will sink Cali into an abyss AF lawlessness...

I’m shocked. Walgreens does an exceptional job of profiling me when I go in there so why can’t they prevent this from happening? 😏🙄

Unbelievable and Sad. Hate to say it but once that merchandise hits the streets, some of the deals are too good to pass up maybe I have purchased items that were lifted. The swap meets have really good deals lately.

I saw this guy walk out with 8 cases of beer from a Walgreens. I counted them. I thought initially Candid Camera and put on a little gloss just in case I was about to be on some TV show. Then the cashier looked at me asking did I see that. The workers saw it and didn't intervene. I couldn't blame them. For someone to be that bold am pretty sure he would have retaliated in some way.

And people would rather steal than work, especially if there's no consequences.

The one I used to go to in Springfield Missouri, 1 day i was standing in A-line waiting to check out and the cashier was nowhere's to be found. 2 people just brazenly walked right out with several things in their hands right in front of all of us. When the cashier walked up i said you know you just watched merchandise walk right out the door right? This chick actually said to me "nobody asked you to be the door monitor".

When ppl steal like this, the price of everything goes up because of security, insurance prices. So it hurts the common person who just needs to survive. If crooks are that smart, why not do normal good biz things? People need to be back in church.🙏🏼