NYC Supermarkets Plagued with Wave of Brazen Shoplifters

By: Serach Nissim

 

Supermarkets in New York City have more shoplifters and bold heists to deal with.

 

As reported by the NY Post, the soft-on-crime laws and infamous bail-reform seem to act as a welcome sign for nonpaying intruders.  Grocers say that shoplifting has taken on a whole new level, with thieves bringing in backpacks, reusable bags or even luggages to stock up on loads of meat, ice cream, household goods and more.  If confronted some are equipped with knives or hypodermic needles, and there have been reports of store employees being injured while trying to stop shoplifters.

 

Fed-up grocers are being forced to pay for added security guards in a bid to take matters into their own hands. “We have rampant theft in our stores,” said Steven Sloan, co-owner of the Morton Williams chain, which boasts 16 high-end stores mostly in Manhattan. “We hired uniformed police officers with guns and we’ve never had to do this before. That has helped to deter the thieves but at a huge cost.”  Recently, a store employee at a Morton Williams store on W. 57th St, caught a thief and confiscated a whole stock of poultry, fish and London Broil steaks, as per a photo snapped.  The store has been plagued by a serial “steak thief” who has stolen hundreds of dollars’ worth of meat from the store since May 15.

 

He typically fills his backpack in a spot where there is a surveillance blind spot, a store worker said.  “He’s come in at least four times that we know of,” said the assistant general manager, Ryan G. “I even followed him outside once watching him disappear into the subway next door with two men carrying a cooler.”  The Morton Williams manager recounted another recent incident when he took an N train after work and someone offered to sell him a Listerine bottle for $1. It still had the store’s $6.99 price sticker.  “I grabbed it and told him, ‘You stole it from my store,’” the manager told The Post.

 

Similarly, the Gristedes and D’Agostino chain, which has about 30 stores in the city said they experienced a 30 percent jump in shoplifting this year, compared to the same time frame last year, as per president Joe Parisi. He blames the deterioration on the fact that thieves know they won’t usually be prosecuted or arrested for stealing under $1,000 worth of goods.  “If they know they aren’t going to jail or they are getting out quickly,” Parisi said, “what stops them from stealing?”

 

Another grocer in the Bronx, who did not wish his stores to be named, told The Post that he instructed his staff to confront thieves in large groups of employees.  “We avoid one-on-one confrontations,” said the Bronx grocer. “When they see that there are numbers involved — five or six employees — they usually leave us and rob the Rite Aid down the street.”  Sometimes the thieves resell the stolen goods immediately for a fraction of the cost– sometimes even to passersby outside the store or bodegas who welcome the discount amid growing costs and inflation.

 

In response to the rise in shoplifting in supermarkets, a spokesperson for Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg said: “No grocer in Manhattan should have to experience theft. And our office has met with grocery store owners and teamed up with the NYPD and local businesses to tackle this issue head on.”