Organized retail theft, sometimes described as “flash rob”, is making quite a bit of news these days. Pamela N. Danziger reports at Forbes:
Smash-and-grab mobs descended on two luxury retailers in the Los Angeles area last week and made off with nearly a half-million dollars in merchandise. The mayhem was caught on camera for all to see, causing shoppers to think twice before setting foot in luxury stores where so much loot is so easily had.
Last Tuesday, 30 to 40 thieves descended on a Yves Saint Laurent store in the Americana at Brand lifestyle center in Glendale. They hit the store around dinnertime and stole an estimated $300,000 in merchandise, escaping in multiple get-away cars. Americana at Brand is a prime retail and dining destination operated by Caruso.
Then, around 4 p.m. on Saturday, a similar-sized mob ransacked a Nordstrom store at the Westfield Topanga Mall in Woodland Hills. This group was armed with bear spray to take out security guards. An estimated $100,000 worth of merchandise was lifted with numerous vehicles ready to speed the thieves away.
In both instances, nobody was caught, though the police reported they had “investigative leads.â€
While retailers calculate the direct losses in dollars and cents, it will have a long-lasting impact on luxury shoppers already on high alert from rising crime rates.
And it’s not just happening in California, where shoplifting laws have been rolled back. Major cities nationwide are seeing a rise in organized retail crime with New York, Houston, Miami, Chicago, Seattle, Atlanta and Dallas among the top ten cities most affected.
It’s estimated that organized retail theft accounts for something like $100 billion in losses for retailers per year.
What, if anything, should be done about organized retail theft? The matter has a number of different dimensions including the role of social media, not just for organizing such thefts but in fencing the loot and the role of “crime tourism”, i.e. people coming from other countries for the express purpose of theft.
I can’t remember the last time I was in one of those kinds of stores. The closest is a local Kohls which isn’t a high-end chain.
Aren’t flash mob looting sprees reparations?
Always bemusing to see laptops with unknown passwords and clothes with the ink bombs posted for sale. Noticed more stuff being put behind locked doors. Wonder if self service retail will start fading away.
At my local Walgreens practically everything is locked up.
IIRC when I was a kid self-service retail was a rarity. When you went to the grocery store you gave your list to the clerk who selected everything for you. I think I was 8 or 9 before supermarkets started becoming commonplace.
Of course those were the days when I used to go to the grocery store to get cigarettes for the hookers who worked in the brothel on the corner.
“Of course those were the days when I used to go to the grocery store to get cigarettes for the hookers who worked in the brothel on the corner.”
What was your “service fee”?
I think they gave me a nickel.
Members only. and online sales will increase their advantage over public retailers as customers appreciate price and the safety of avoiding violent mobs and active shooters.
Modern surveillance systems should make it possible to hunt down some of these bandits but costs I’m sure will not make them as attractive a target as say, J-6 flag wavers.
I do sympathize with those who resent the unbelievable wealth disparity in the country but I really doubt the phenomenon is a social protest.
Riots and looting in Minneapolis simply opened the eyes of criminals to the viability of the tactics.