New York City has reported nearly 22,000 shoplifting incidents this year, a five percent increase from the same period in 2023.
National chains like Target, CVS, and Walgreens are closing stores affected by rampant theft. The city has logged 21,578 complaints from January 1 to May 12, according to the New York Post.
“We cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests, and contributing to unsustainable business performance,” Target stated in a September 2023 announcement about closing a Harlem location and several others nationwide.
Retired NYPD sergeant Joseph Giacalone, now a criminal investigation adjunct professor, believes that politicians are largely dismissing the issue.
“Our politicians have told us, ‘Shoplifting is not a problem,’” he told the Post. “And then all of a sudden, we start seeing these issues because many crimes have been downgraded by the politicians themselves. Eventually, you gotta pay the piper.”
Once a New York City staple, Duane Reade, a popular convenience store owned by Walgreens, closed 90 locations in the city between 2019 and 2022.
While the parent company did not confirm shoplifting as the cause, residents raised concerns about theft playing a role in the shutdown at an NYPD community council meeting, Our Town reported.
Five former CVS locations in Manhattan are on the market, real estate broker Joanne Podell told the Post.
Walgreens has also listed 17 former Manhattan stores for sale.
Three weeks before her local CVS on Broadway shut its doors, resident Maria Kucer said she saw a man “scooping stuff” into a black duffel bag — and it wasn’t her first time seeing him steal from the store.
“I felt they were stealing from me,” the 61-year-old said. “Inevitably I ended up paying more for items as a result of the thefts and since the cashiers, pharmacists and staff felt like family to me, the thieves made me mad.”
