Co-op store employees are also facing record number of attacks, with violent assaults up 25%, according to the retailer’s campaigns and public affairs director Paul Gerrard. “We are running at about a thousand incidents of shoplifting a day across our two and a half thousand stores"...“Four or five colleagues will be physically attacked every day,” Gerrard told the MailOnline.
Back in July, Waitrose reported a rise in shoplifting in its stores across the UK, as an MP said organised gangs were "operating with impunity". The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said retail thefts across the sector in England and Wales rose by 26% in 2022.
In March, police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland recorded almost 33,000 incidents of shoplifting. Lucy Brown, director of security for JLP, told the BBC: "We're seeing a real increase - some are one-off offenders but the majority are shoplifting on a regular basis, switching across all retailers."
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme, she said: "They will use major transport infrastructure to hit every retailer in a particular town or city or high street"..."We're also seeing a rise in organised crime with groups targeting stores - they want to take high volumes and high value in one hit."
“Criminals will target items that are easy to conceal, and that are quick and easy to resell on the black market.” And for Waitrose, that included alcohol, meat, tobacco substitutes and health and beauty products such as razor blades and toothbrush heads, she said. At John Lewis, it was wearable tech, fragrances and branded fashion.
Paul Gerrard said there had been a 41% rise in incidents in Co-op stores in the first eight months of this year, which he believed was linked to reselling. Gerrard said goods were resold at car boot sales, pubs, clubs and even in other shops. He refused to elaborate but added: “That product that is being stolen from us and Tesco and others is being resold in both informal and formal settings.”
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