‘Stores are afraid,’ warns ex Toys ‘R’ Us CEO as fears mount that retail crime is ‘changing the fabric of society’

A RETAIL warning has been put out by a former Toys “R” Us CEO as he said rising store crime could change society.

Gerald Storch explained how retailers had apparently become afraid of stopping theft and shoplifting.

Alamy

Fox Business

The former retail leader explained how changing attitudes had impacted the rise in retail crime .

Storch said an apparent focus away from this type of theft had impacted stores.

He claimed there was a disregard to prosecute in-store crime.

“The law doesn’t punish it, prosecutors don’t prosecute it,” he told Fox Business .

The former CEO said police often did not stop or arrest thieves as “they know that if they arrest someone they’re just going to be back on the street.”

Storch also claimed that these changing attitudes could have a greater impact on people and not just cops or stores.

“I think in the last few years there’s been kind of an attitude that we have bigger things to deal with and this isn’t that serious a crime, and let’s focus on the big crimes, and not on you know petty theft as they might call it,” he added.

“But the reality is that the gross misunderstanding of what’s going on it’s changing the fabric of society.”

He explained that there were multiple victims to the rise in retail theft.

The former CEO raged about the increased use of glass to cover and lock items in stores.

This anti-theft method would require an employee to come over and unlock these doors to retrieve goods for shoppers.

Storch said one impact of this would be rising costs for stores and therefore shoppers.

He also explained that increasing rates of theft could lead to some closures.

“Stores close in high theft areas leaving less competition, prices rise again because of that and people are out of work,” he said.

What is retail crime?

Retail theft has become a major issue for shops and customers in recent years as crime rates have soared.

Several CEOs have blamed organized retail crime for their use of unpopular anti-theft measures like locking items and receipt checks.

ORC is the large-scale theft of goods in stores with the intent of reselling them.

These operations could involve multiple people working together to steal or large quantities of high value items being taken while attempting to evade in-store security.

Retailers have reported a rise in shrink, which is the industry term for goods lost through theft or misplacement.

A 2023 National Retail Security Survey by the National Retail Federation showed that shrink increased to 1.6%.

The survey also revealed that ORC increased from 70.7% in 2022 to 78.15 in 2023.

Retailers have also shared their worries about threats of violence against staff that have been associated with retail theft.

Several industry leaders have shared their concerns about these worrying levels of crime.

Target’s CEO last year said the chain would close multiple stores due to the threat of “theft and organized retail crime” to employees and “business performance.”

A former Toys “R” Us CEO claimed some stores were “afraid” to stop thieves” and said changing attitudes toward theft had impacted stores.

Despite this, Storch said these retailers have been worried to stop the crime that has affected them.

“The stores are afraid to stop people because they’re afraid they are going to get sued,” he said.

CEO’S SPEAK OUT

Storch has not been the only retail leader to speak out on the impact of retail crime.

The former Best Buy CEO spoke out last year about Target’s decision to close several stores.

Hubert Joly said companies had to learn to deal with “a lot of tensions” in society.

“The root cause that may be beyond my paygrade, but when you are dealing, for a retailer, if you’re dealing with organized crime in an environment where your stores have traditionally been quite open and the guideline that retailers give their workforce is, this is just stuff, so don’t get killed,” he said.

“So, people are taking advantage of this, which is really sad.”