|
 Crime against businesses is rising in Richmond.
“In the past six months, we’ve noticed about a 25 percent increase in the number of burglary calls from businesses,” says one employee of a local security company who asked that his name not be used because his company does not allow employees to talk to the press. Cash-strapped thieves take whatever goods they can in order to pawn them elsewhere for money, he said. “It boggles my mind the kind of things people will steal.”
Experts say the trend – which is happening nationwide – is in direct correlation to a struggling economy and the rapid rise in prices for things like gas and food. A recent survey by the National Retail Federation found that 74% of retailers believed that shoplifting incidents have increased in occurrence since 2006. Moreover, 85% of retailers said they thought they’d been victims of criminal enterprises in the past 12 months.
Shoplifting is up around 4 percent in the City of Richmond compared to the same time last year; 343 incidents versus 329 last year, according to the Richmond Police Department.(Figures from Henrico and Chesterfield were not available in time for this story).
Developers and builders around Richmond have faced similar issues, dealing with thieves these past few years who purloin copper from gutters or by tearing out wiring to get it, and then turn around and sell it to metal recycling yards.
But other types of theft against businesses, from the aforementioned shoplifting to more severe cases such as break-ins, seem to be on the rise. Just yesterday, two men were arrested for breaking into a gun store in Hanover County. There have been four armed robberies in the last week in the City of Richmond, including in Carytown and near VCU. But Laurie Aldrich, president of the Virginia Retail Merchants Association, says that she has noticed the steady rise in shoplifting throughout the state. “This is a $36 billion problem,” Aldrich said, referencing the value of stolen merchandise nationwide. Figures broken down by state are not available. The Retail Merchants Association hasn’t conducted any recent surveys on theft, but Aldrich said the problem won’t disappear overnight. “On the whole, it (shoplifting) has been on the rise, and that’s probably going to continue,” she said.
Not all local businesses have experienced an increase in crime. Cyndi Watkins, store manager for Ellwood Thompson’s Local Market, says that she hasn’t noticed a significant change, good or bad, in terms of shoplifting occurrences. In contrast to recent trends, “Our shoplifting average for the year is actually down” from prior years, she said.
But for those businesses that are seeing a spike in disappearing merchandise, there are ways to remedy the problem. James Hatcher, president of Pleasants Hardware, says that his store takes an aggressive approach to deter shoplifters, using glass cases, locks and alarm systems to fight against theft. Clothes have been a popular target lately, Hatcher said, because they’re easy to conceal under a shirt.
“We’ve started limiting what we put out, leaving the more popular sizes in the back and putting less popular sizes on display.” This way, potential thieves will think twice about grabbing that XXXL T-Shirt sitting prominently on the third rack.”
More reading:
More consumers, workers shoplift as economy slows, USA Today Alec Depcynksi is a BizSense Staff Writer. He can be reached at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Subscribe to Small Biz by Email