British businesses are facing a wave of thefts and attacks against their employees which they describe as unprecedented (AFP/Archives/Tolga AKMEN)
“We deal with shoplifting every day, sometimes several times a day. Most of the time it’s food, other times beers, coffee,…” laments Pravin Kharel , 28, manager of a Sainsbury’s supermarket in London.
Between criminal gangs, people prey to addictions and the cost of living crisis, British businesses are facing a wave of thefts and attacks against their employees which they describe as unprecedented, and are calling on the authorities for help .
Pravin Kharel estimates the financial losses in his store at around “250 pounds per week. We don’t have the right to chase them out of the store so as soon as they leave, it’s over.”
Tracy, manager of a Boots store in the residential area of Belsize Park in north London, aged 54 and who refuses to give her last name, says she does not have a precise figure on the shortfall but “it represents a lot silver”.
Store managers interviewed by AFP described thieves of all ages. “Last week, someone was trying to steal wine and we caught him, he tried to hit me with the bottle,” continues Mr. Kharel.
According to the British Retail Federation (BRC), shoplifting is up 27% this year in ten of the country’s biggest cities – a phenomenon which is not limited to the UK and affects notably France, where these facts increased by almost 15% last year, or the United States.
Nearly 90 heads of major UK retail businesses, including supermarket giant Tesco, are calling for help against criminals robbing stores (AFP/Archives/Daniel LEAL)
Supermarkets had more than 1 million incidents last year, according to the Convenience Stores Association (ACS).
Nearly 90 heads of major businesses in the UK retail sector, including supermarket giant Tesco, Boots pharmacies and WH Smith bookstores, wrote to the Minister of Health last week. Interior to demand action against criminals who “rob stores”.
– Meat, alcohol and confectionery –
The most frequently stolen items were “meat, alcohol and confectionery, high-value items that can be resold by those with an addiction problem (…) or by organized crime groups”, even if the cost of living crisis also generates theft from people who are experiencing financial difficulties, describes the ACS.
Inflation in the United Kingdom (AFP/Archives/Samuel BARBOSA, Gal ROMA)
Inflation in the United Kingdom remains the highest in the G7, at 6.7% in August, although it has started to decline in recent months, and the surge in food prices has been even sharper.
In supermarkets or convenience stores, consumers have become accustomed to seeing anti-theft stickers on basic food products, particularly meat.
The Co-op supermarket chain speaks of a surge in “theft, crime and anti-social behavior” of more than a third in one year, with almost 1,000 incidents per day, and warns that “some communities could become empty of convenience stores.
In drugstores, sellers sometimes no longer place makeup on the shelves because of frequent theft.
In drugstores, sellers sometimes no longer place makeup on the shelves because of frequent theft (AFP/Archives/Ben STANSALL)
In the Boots store, an AFP journalist witnessed a theft by a man who rushed in and emptied the stalls of lipsticks and other nail polishes into a bag at full speed, before running off taking the whole thing.
This summer, hundreds of people gathered in the middle of the afternoon in front of the store of the sports clothing chain JD Sports on Oxford Street, the busiest shopping street in Europe, in response to messages on Snapchat and TikTok, for a giant shoplift.
Several stores were temporarily barricaded and clashes took place with the police, who arrested nine people.
If his employer has the means to bear the financial losses, the situation is more difficult for small stores, according to Tracy, manager in one of the Boots chain’s stores in London.
But that doesn’t stop him from being on the front line: in addition to a call system for the police, “we don’t have any security personnel, it’s just us.”
© 2023 AFP
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