Shoplifting an inconvenient fact of life for many local merchants

The old five-finger discount is nothing new in the world of retail, and many uptown storeowners and managers acknowledge that dealing with shoplifting is something they can't avoid.

End-of-the-year statistics from the Athens Police Department show that by far the largest number of thefts resulting in arrests occurs at the Walmart on East State Street.

In 2011, the APD records show 135 shoplifting crimes reported from that store alone. The next highest number is 10 reported from the Athens Kroger, also on East State Street.

Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle said Tuesday that one reason Walmart has so many shoplifting arrests is that the superchain employs a full-time loss prevention officer to monitor customers, and, to put it simply, Walmart just catches more shoplifters. This latter, of course, is also closely related to the fact that Walmart has more shoppers, period, than any other store in Athens County.

"All shoplifting complaints come from the business or entity," he said. "Our officers, to my knowledge, have never caught a shoplifter in the act. It's always been private security or an employee of the store."

He said the APD policy is the same no matter what. His officers arrive; they have the store sign the charge or a sworn statement supporting the charge; and then the accused is processed.

"Most of the time they're released from the store if it's a petty theft," he said. "Really it's incumbent on the business to police themselves and call us for a response when they catch somebody in the act."

When asked if the department hears much from uptown businesses, Pyle said, "Rarely."

But that doesn't mean that these businesses don't see their fair share of shoplifters. One store employee commented that the bin for empty boxes of items that were stolen from the store gets additions on a daily basis.

Many uptown businesses are equipped with video monitoring equipment and censors at the doors to detect items that haven't been paid for.

Mario Cinquepalmi, a manager at UniversiTEES on North Court Street, said Tuesday that the main thing employees look at for is when customers take items into a dressing room. The store had one detected shoplifting occurrence last year according to APD records.

"The only instance that we're aware of in the past two years, that's how the items were stolen," Cinquepalmi said. "Somebody took items into the dressing room, wore them out under their clothes and left. So that's one big thing we try to police."

Cinquepalmi said that employees greet customers and make sure they're aware of who's in the store at all times.

"I think little things like that make a big difference," he said. "But, as far as it goes, with our inventory, we don't see a lot of loss."

Another shop owner who wished not to be identified said that most of the time he expects karma to catch up with shoplifters. He related a story of another former shop owner on Court Street who wouldn't call the police when he caught shoplifters, but instead would have the caught person write out a check to a local charity and then walk with him to the mailbox to make sure the check was sent.

Fred Tom, owner of Lamborn's Studio & Custom Framing on West State Street, said that his business dealt with more shoplifting when it was on South Court Street before moving to its current location. He said that his store has never had to deal with much shoplifting.

"We have security cameras so we can see the front of the store well," he said.

Jamie Clemons, a manager at Dale's BP on Court Street, said that employees often find empty boxes on the shelves some weekend mornings. Dale's reported three shoplifting occurrences reported last year, according to the APD records.

"Sunday morning I found eye-drops, the empty box," she said, adding that the sometimes customers are caught as they're trying to run out of the store with a case of beer.

She said the store employs a number of way to prevent shoplifting, including strategically locating certain items, as well as the use of mirrors.

Kathy Candelaria, manager at CVS pharmacy on South Court Street, also pointed to eye-drops as being a target and said that the store makes sure it places sensors on the boxes of those items.

She said taking items out of boxes is the easiest way for shoplifters to get them.

"They'll go to usually the center of the store, and they'll just be playing with it and keep walking until they can get it out of the packaging so (the sensor at the door) won't go off," she said. "We do what we can. We try to monitor it."

She said that the CVS policy is to have managers working out on the floor to help customers and discourage shoplifters.

"The biggest deterrent with shoplifting is the shoplifter knowing there is somebody out on the floor watching," she said, urging other businesses to note the importance of that strategy.

The South Court Street CVS has less of a problem with shoplifting than many others she has seen, she said.

"We get our little hits like the Visines, condoms some cosmetics – not usually very big or expensive items," she said. "So the kids are pretty good."

Mike Fitterer, manager of College Bookstore on South Court Street, said that after the store was remodeled and sensors put at the doors, the store was able to do away with requiring customers to place their backpacks and bags in bins before they shop.

"Every retail business has to deal with it," he said. "We took the (bookbag bins) down, trying to make it customer friendly for everybody. It's always just 1 percent or 2 percent of customers who make it bad for everybody."

He said that empty packages once again are the main evidence that shoplifting has occurred.

"We do what we can," he said. "Things get out. It's part of doing business. I don't know if it's any different in a college town or any local town. I'd be surprised if there is any difference."

Other stores that reported more than one shoplifting crime to the APD in 2011 include Dollar General, Lucky Dog, Crossroads and C&E Grocery.