Beverly Hills becomes a ghost town, as high-end retail stores leave the once-luxurious city of Los Angeles amid a series of smash-and-grab robberies and high-end gang grabs.
A video posted on Tik ToK by self-proclaimed “Nostalgic Angelino” cody90210 shows more than a dozen Beverly Hills retailers and restaurants now closed entirely and not replaced by new businesses, leaving their empty stores as shells of their former glory.
Some businesses include luxury goods such as Barneys New York and Escada, with the once popular brand having filed for bankruptcy in recent years.
Other big-name stores that are now vacant include former locations for Chanel, Rite Aid, Barnes and Noble, Niketown, and restaurants like Chipotle and Starbucks.
Chanel on N Robertson Blvd, in Beverly Hills, was closed following two burglaries last year, with the building still closed. @cody90210/Tiktok
The former Escada store on Wilshire Boulevard is also vacant after the company filed for bankruptcy last year. Google Maps
These barren shops are a stark contrast to the city’s reputation for glamor and luxury, and as a place where celebrities, fashionistas and business moguls are regularly photographed by the paparazzi.
While many stores have closed, other businesses have managed to avoid destruction, with places like Saks Fifth, Hermes and Gucci earning a place in the TikTok account’s “Best of Beverly Hills” compilation.
Stores that survived the economic downturn during the pandemic, however, are now facing a spike in crime that has forced Southern California law enforcement agencies to create a task force focused solely on retail crime.
A building on North Bedford Drive remains closed after Rite Aid moved out earlier this year. Google Maps
The new task force consists of the LA Police Department, the LA County Sheriff’s Department, along with the US Marshals Apprehension Task Force and the FBI Apprehension Task Force.
The effort featured 22 full-time investigators and was established the same day a Los Angeles Macy’s was raided by a group of masked thieves in hooded sweatshirts.
As police crack down on these “flash mob” burglaries, officers made at least nine arrests last week, including six thieves who robbed an East LA Nike store.
There were 9,455 burglaries reported in LA as of Aug. 26, less than a 3% decrease from the same time last year but still up more than 14% since 2021, according to the latest LAPD data.
The once popular NikeTown store in Beverly Hills remains empty.@cody90210/Tiktok
Along with the retail crime task force, California’s Gavin Newsom announced the state government will use California Highway Patrol resources to stop theft in LA.
“This state invests hundreds of millions of dollars in fighting organized crime and when our local partners need more help, we are ready to help,” Newsom said in a statement.
The CHP’s Organized Retail Crime Task Force, established in 2019, has arrested more than 1,250 people and recovered more than $30 million in stolen goods since it was formed, the governor’s office said, according to KTLA.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
