Little by little, traffic is once again tiptoeing back into downtown retail store destinations, helped in part by the return of office workers to urban employment centers. There are also increased rumblings of developers taking advantage of the great investment opportunities found at urban shopping centers throughout the country. Although this is all good news, the elephant in the room is the increase in crime that has negatively affected so many of these downtown shopping destinations.
This rise in crime is due to various factors. Perhaps the top issue is the proliferation of poor policies that reduce penalties for such criminal activities as in-store armed robberies and smash-and-grab thefts, etc. Another issue is the rampant rise in the cost of living due to inflation, which has increased the desperation level of those who feel justified in resorting to criminal behavior to make ends meet.
Notable retailers, such as Walgreens and Starbucks, have already closed their stores in major downtown destinations due to the rise in crime in their stores. Even the CEO of Walmart hinted that some of its stores may close because of the increasing numbers of in-store thefts.
There have been some solutions proposed here and there for this retail crime wave. For example, in June the Department of Homeland Security announced that it is stepping in to offer its resources toward helping local enforcement agencies combat organized retail crime rings. Another solution has been to encase more and more merchandise behind locked cases, as most jewelry stores already do, in order to reduce the likelihood that criminals will steal items. Hy-Vee, as of December, has added armed guards inside of its stores. Macy’s adopted Clearview AI facial recognition software at select high crime area stores to help identify thieves, but both Macy’s and Clearview AI are now battling a class action lawsuit regarding invasion of privacy issues due to this policy.
Of course, the number one solution to this problem would be a reversal of the city/state policies that are simply too lenient on the criminals who are committing these smash-and-grab/shoplifting acts. Until this gets rectified, visiting these urban retail locales will be at the shopper’s own risk.
