To a degree you also just described cannibalism.
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Can’t speak for the other cities on the list, but San Francisco has seen the closing of other retail business chains e.g. a handful of Walgreens, a major Nordstrom location, in the last year or so.
And in Washington, DC:
Customers visiting the Columbia Heights CVS are walking out in disbelief after discovering the store is nearly empty. Items that people rely on being able to get on short notice – food, diapers, makeup --are all completely missing from the shelves.
DB2
I learned more about this. With the cameras, cases are made against the thieves. After a few thefts, the police are given the evidence to prosecute thieves.
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More information coming out that the retail theft explanation for Target store closures is mostly just CYA for under performing executives.
Popular Information analyzed publicly available crime data for the stores Target is closing in New York and San Francisco. This data reveals that stores that are being closed have lower levels of theft than nearby stores that have remained open. An analysis of the stores Target is shuttering in the Seattle area follows a similar pattern. This data suggests that factors other than crime are driving Target’s decisions.
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The NYPD says it hasn’t seen levels like this since 1995, and elsewhere around the country, organized retail crime is ramping up.
The number of shoplifting complaints surged to more than 63,000 last year — a 45% jump over the roughly 45,000 reported in 2021 and a nearly 275% jump compared to the mid-2000s, the statistics show.
DB2
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My solution is that every store should have an airlock type entry (most already do to cut down on heating/cooling costs), but that they should be lockable from any register or remote carried by a manager.
Let the miscreants into the airlock, lock the doors in front of them and behind them, and then smoke ‘em with some kind of paralyzing gas, just like the Joker or Penguin would do if they were on the side of the angels.
Then unlock the doors and ask the other customers to help drag the bodies out to the curb.
Too much?
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From Jan. 1 through Sept. 12, 2021, the NYPD says there were more than 26,000 complaints for shoplifting compared to the same time period in 2020, which was over 20,000.
Gosh. That’s doesn’t make any sense. By looking at these numbers you almost might think in early 2020 lots of stores were closed and people were staying home. Weird, huh?
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I’ve been following a certain trial in NY. Maybe the police should be paying more attention to white/orange collar crime.
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That popular info site may not be playing with any facts at all. Not sure what to make of the police reports because the shrink rate according to the industries is 5%…you think everyone is lying like it is 1999?
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Yeah. Not to mention another 44% increase in '22 compared to '21 – and a 275% jump compared to the mid-2000s. Weird, huh?
It does look, however, as though shoplifting has leveled off this year at the new high rate.
DB2
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Crooks go in/out by smashing windows, etc. So airlock system only works if the rest of the store is essentially a jail. A sawzall will make quick work of any airlock system anyway. Or they use a large (stolen) vehicle to smash into the store via the airlock and then back the vehicle out for quick and easy in/out on foot.
Because every shoplifter walks in to a store with a sawzall in their pants! You know; just in case!
JimA
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Milwaukee (and probably others) actually has a pretty awesome compact reciprocating saw:
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When planning to commit such crimes, they will have the tools needed to get the job done ASAP. The tools to gain entry would be at hand. Maybe stolen from a store that carries them…
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Sawzall and it’s little brother the multi tool saw are pretty awesome tools !
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As Rahm Emanuel once said, “Never let a crisis go to waste.”
DB2
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It’s still going to take 5-10 minutes to sawzall a hole big enough to climb through (with all the loot). That’s plenty of time to turn on the gas spigots or open the mystery trap door and imprison them until Batman gets there to beat the snot out of them.
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