What’s Behind the Fascination With Shoplifting?
Retail theft has emerged has a hot issue in San Francisco as stores cope with a crime spike. But feelings about shoplifting can be complicated.
In June, a video shot in a San Francisco Walgreens went viral: It showed a shoplifter unabashedly filling a garbage bag with items from the drug store’s shelves and then rolling away on a bicycle, as patrons and a security guard looked on.
The suspected shoplifter was arrested less than a week later, but the episode continues to reverberate. Several similar incidents in various chain stores have been captured on social media, and shoplifting emerged as a hot-button issue in the Bay Area, and beyond. Retail theft is now said to be responsible for $45 billion in annual losses in the U.S., according to one trade association, a figure whose recent growth reflects the disruptions of the pandemic era and the rise of online retail, which has made it easier to resell stolen items.