Theft, Shoplifting, etc.

Predicting the demise of Sears & Kmart since 2017!
Alpha8472
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Re: Theft, Shoplifting, etc.

Post by Alpha8472 »

It is sad when over the counter drug items are cheaper at Safeway than at Walgreens. Perhaps they need to charge more at Walgreens due to their locked cabinets and high rates of shoplifting.

Target and Kohl's announced that they reopened their fitting rooms back around May. However, some Target stores still do not staff their fitting rooms and they are blocked off.

TJ Maxx and Marshall's have kept theirs closed. Walmart fitting rooms seem to be closed as well.

I think you should shower after trying on clothes at any fitting room. Bed bugs and lice are very common. I used to work at Ross. Those clothes are never cleaned.
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Re: Theft, Shoplifting, etc.

Post by storewanderer »

I have heard some real horror stories about what people do in fitting rooms even at nicer stores like Dillard's (who used to do a good job maintaining them) or Macy's (yuck).

At least in stores like Wal Mart or Ross the fitting rooms are basically particle board rooms and have a dry tile floor. This way when people decide to do something it is not quite as difficult to clean it and is likely detected faster (vs. in a place with full length doors for each fitting room and carpet fitting rooms and nice comfortable padded seating in them like Dillards- much harder to clean).

I have yet to see Target or Kohls fitting rooms open anywhere. I have seen some Wal Mart ones open, but some are still closed. Most Wal Marts up around Reno have freight piled in/around the fitting rooms. I never see anyone using them to try clothes on.

If fitting rooms are a theft issue (or other issue, people going into them and shooting up or whatever), I think it is time to close them down for good.
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Re: Theft, Shoplifting, etc.

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Ross has always viewed the Fitting Room as a place for theft. They have used the number cards to indicate how many items you take into the Fitting Rooms for years. Ross also put poles on their shopping carts to keep them from being taken outside the store. The shopping cart with poles have been around since at least the mid-90s. One time at Ross, a woman pooped in the Fitting Room. She apparently thought that the Fitting Room was a bathroom. I kid you not. The crazy stuff that happened at Ross is enough to fill a book.

Some Walmart stores have added locking devices to their shopping carts. The wheels of the cart will lock up if they are taken out of range of the store parking lot. It works decently well, unless the wheels accidentally lock up while still in the parking lot.
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Re: Theft, Shoplifting, etc.

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: July 3rd, 2021, 11:14 pm Ross has always viewed the Fitting Room as a place for theft. They have used the number cards to indicate how many items you take into the Fitting Rooms for years. Ross also put poles on their shopping carts to keep them from being taken outside the store. The shopping cart with poles have been around since at least the mid-90s. One time at Ross, a woman pooped in the Fitting Room. She apparently thought that the Fitting Room was a bathroom. I kid you not. The crazy stuff that happened at Ross is enough to fill a book.

Some Walmart stores have added locking devices to their shopping carts. The wheels of the cart will lock up if they are taken out of range of the store parking lot. It works decently well, unless the wheels accidentally lock up while still in the parking lot.
Some shopping carts are designed with wheels to lock if the security alarm is triggered at the store exit. This is supposedly to try to stop "run outs."
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Re: Theft, Shoplifting, etc.

Post by veteran+ »

Ralphs Fresh Fare in San Diego (Hillcrest) had perimeter "wiring" inbeded in the shopping center parking lot to lock shopping cart wheels. They were losing 100s of carts a month and spending lots of money on cart retrievel companies.

For reasons unknown they were removed and the store is suffering even more loss.

Some say the shopping center owner had them removed? Some say the wiring affected the escalator that leads to the basement parking area?

I lived in the adjoining Uptown District condos and there were always shopping carts in our garages. This is an upscale complex and I was puzzled with that behavior.
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Re: Theft, Shoplifting, etc.

Post by Alpha8472 »

People take the shopping carts home and just leave them. Perhaps they think that someone will come and take the carts back to the store for them.

7-Eleven in San Francisco is now doing business through a metal door. You have to ring a bell and they will pass the items through the opening. I have seen glass windows with metal drawers at gas stations in the Oakland area. Even the glass seems dangerous now. It should be bulletproof too.

https://abc7news.com/target-hours-san-f ... /10854900/
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Re: Theft, Shoplifting, etc.

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: July 4th, 2021, 6:36 pm People take the shopping carts home and just leave them. Perhaps they think that someone will come and take the carts back to the store for them.

7-Eleven in San Francisco is now doing business through a metal door. You have to ring a bell and they will pass the items through the opening. I have seen glass windows with metal drawers at gas stations in the Oakland area. Even the glass seems dangerous now. It should be bulletproof too.

https://abc7news.com/target-hours-san-f ... /10854900/
It appears the 7-Eleven has this policy after 10 PM but during other hours you go inside as normal. This is right across from one of the large Hyatt hotels but is basically in the middle of what is a fairly "dead" block and I can see how this somewhat desolate location is not a great spot at night. It should probably simply be closed overnight.

It is not unusual for gas stations in certain large city locations to do business through a metal drawer like a bank drive through window late at night. I've seen this in many large cities, even Denver 10-15 years ago which at the time was quite safe. It was more to protect that single employee on duty.
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Re: Theft, Shoplifting, etc.

Post by Alpha8472 »

I have noticed that some Target stores have installed rolling metal doors over their entrances.

Some Walmart stores got them too.
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Re: Theft, Shoplifting, etc.

Post by veteran+ »

Off topic a bit but Pavilions in Rancho Mirage (now a Gelsons?) had rolling metal doors (like a garage - for both entrances) to protect from WIND storms.

We actually had to use them a couple of times!
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