A CVS location in Washington DC was forced to wipe its shelves of toilet paper and replace them with framed photos of the products amid an increase in thefts in the nation’s capital, according to a report.
If customers need to buy any toilet paper or paper towels, they must tap a buzzer placed on an empty shelf to summon a store employee to retrieve it from the back room, according to an Instagram post from the Washingtonian Problems account.
The unusual storefront began after homeless people began grabbing products from the shelves of the drugstore, located on H Street NE, without paying, an individual familiar with the situation told local outlet WTOP.
Robbery reports in DC are up 68% in 2023 compared to last year, Fox Business reports.
More than 3,000 robberies have occurred so far in 2023 — up significantly from the current 1,791 in 2022, according to Metropolitan Police Department data.
The region has been plagued by a major increase in smash-and-grab robberies as well, WTOP reported.
Grocery stores in major cities across the country have experienced a surge in thefts, causing many major stores to lock their products or close their doors entirely. Instagram/washingtonianprobs
Client Ben Atanga, owner of a wellness studio in Maryland, said theft of basic necessities is a nationwide problem.
“First, I want to say this: this is not just an H street or a DC problem — this is something that’s happening all over the country, right?” Atanga told the shop as he walked into the shop. “The economy is going up, the cost of living is going up … If people are stealing … things, necessities, you know, I think maybe we have to look at that.
“Maybe it’s something that we don’t raise or maybe as a community we provide for it … ‘Hey, look, you can come get toiletries and things like that, so you can take care of yourself.’ H Street has always had a large homeless population,” he added.
The unusual storefront began after homeless people began pilfering products from drugstore shelves.Instagram/washingtonianprobs
Grocery stores in major cities across the country have experienced a surge in thefts, causing many major stores to lock their products or close their doors entirely.
New York City has seen the sharpest rise in theft in recent years, with a 64% increase in reported retail theft incidents in the four years between mid-2019 and June of this year, according to the Criminal Justice Council. Los Angeles saw a 61% jump in the same time frame.
The NYPD confirmed that there have been more than 93,000 incidents of petty robbery so far this year — which is 29% higher than the same period two years ago, but a 5% decrease from 2022.
LA, meanwhile, saw a 109% increase in reported retail theft incidents in the first six months of 2023 — the highest in the country, the report found.
A recent report by the National Retail Federation, a trade group representing US retailers, said that chains lost $112 billion due to a wave of organized theft rings in New York, San Francisco, LA and Houston last year — up from $93.9 billion in 2021 .
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
