A Walgreens store in California has started locking its freezers shut with chains – with workers reportedly claiming it was being robbed 20 times a day.
Last year Walgreens closed five of its stores in San Francisco due to what it called “organised retail crime”. Now, one Walgreens store in the crime-ridden city has apparently resorted to padlocking its frozen goods section.
Video footage and photos of the Fort Knox style freezers have been shared online by former San Francisco Mayoral candidate Richie Greenberg. The political commentator said the store was on 16th Street and Geary Boulevard.
Critics have said laws in the Democratic stronghold state – such as downgrading thefts of less than $950 to misdemeanors – have encouraged criminals. And, workers at the Walgreens store, told local reporters the store gets robbed nearly 20 times a day.
The store clerks said shoplifters wipe-out their stocks of pizza and ice cream every night. Greenberg told Fox News he had seen the San Francisco neighbourhood where he lives descend into a “graffiti-ridden, homeless and drug-addict frenzy.”
“I’ve been terribly inconvenienced as a shopper to need to wait and wait for clerks to come open the locks at each area of the store for the products I need,” said Greenberg.
“I’ve stood in line inside for pharmacy pickup and watched thieves walk out of the store with arms loaded up. I’ve driven by the same store, seeing stolen merchandise in the arms of homeless crossing the street. I’m disgusted by the San Francisco City Hall officials who ignore the problem.”
Fox News Walgreens did not respond to its request for a comment. However, in November 2021, Walgreens spokesperson Phil Caruso said: “Organised retail crime continues to be a challenge facing retailers across San Francisco, and we are not immune to that.
“Retail theft across our San Francisco stores has continued to increase in the past few months to five times our chain average. During this time to help combat this issue, we increased our investments in security measures in stores across the city to 46 times our chain average in an effort to provide a safe environment.”
A National Retail Federation retail security survey in 2022 ranked San Francisco/Oakland as the metropolitan area hit second hardest by theft in 2020 and 2021. Another Californian city – Los Angeles – topped that list of shame.
