Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The price of shoplifting is getting dangerously high,
and starting to push some stores to the brink.
Target, this week, announced nine stores in major cities will close due to theft.
Here in the Buffalo area, a business owner shared his concerns.
Don Arthur owns Brighton Eggert Pharmacy in Tonawanda and Black Rock Pharmacy in Buffalo.
"Shoplifting has always been an issue, but right now, it's the worst point I've seen in my career," he said on WBEN on Friday.
"We've always had to have theft deterrent in our retail pharmacies. We tag expensive merchandise. We tag vulnerable target merchandise and things that are small and at a higher price point. It's something that we've dealt with for quite some time. But recently, I think some social media platforms, like TikTok are fueling it.
Arthur said he is disturbed about attitudes toward shoplifting.
"We had two high school age girls last week that we caught shoplifting and they had an assortment of merchandise. They had cosmetics, and candy. When we brought them into the back room, they just didn't seem to mind. They weren't scared. They were very matter of fact. That's very concerning
to me."
Shoplifting laws may be contributing to it. Shoplifting is a Class A Misdemeanor in New York State, which some consider to be a slap on the wrist. "I don't think people feel there's as much risk in going into someone's store and stealing property," added Arthur.
Organized shoplifting is something that has been taking place in several big cities where groups of young thieves brazenly rob stores of merchandise.
"That's a concern to me on a national level," said Arthur. "We're not getting that here in Western New York. We're the City of Good Neighbors for a reason. We take care of each other. I have no personal experience of groups coming into any of my pharmacies and I haven't heard of this happening in Western New York. Our community is not going to accept that."
Are self checkouts too much of a temptation for shoppers?
"Absolutely," said Arthur. "The proliferation of self checkouts is a decision by upper management to save on labor costs. I believe they are going to be re-evaluated because it's simply too much to ask all of your consumers to place a large bag on a counter and put those items into that bag without an employee nearby. We're going to see that go away I think."
He reminds us that retail is a different environment today. "You've got 900 CVS stores closing. Rite Aid is closing stores as it is weeks away from bankruptcy. We've lost three Rite Aids in the city of Buffalo in areas where there is a strong need for prescription services. The climate is different because the margins are different. It's a different environment. We didn't have to compete with online retail before. And while shoplifting has been around for a long time, retailers are dealing with competitive pressures that they didn't deal with before. So the effects of shoplifting are much greater today."