(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Grocery store chain Giant Food, located in Washington D.C., opted to remove several staple brands from shelves amid rising crime rates, essentially placing the stores on internal lockdowns..
The supermarket chain announced that Tide detergent, Colgate toothpaste and even Advil ibuprofen faced removal, according to the Daily Caller.
The company considered closing the location altogether, as they lost 20% of their revenue due to theft.
“We want to continue to be able to serve the community, but we can’t do so at the level of significant loss or risk to our associates that we have today,” Ira Kress, the president of Giant Food said.
The stores hired security guards, locked up high-value items and limited the items allowed in the self-checkout area throughout their 165 locations in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
None of the chain’s locations closed yet, despite administrators conversations concerning the viability of several locations.
“We’ve invested a significant amount of money here, even more security here than any other store,” Kress said of the Ward 8 location.
Other chain stores such as Whole Foods, Walmart, CVS and Target either closed down locations or started locking up items such as toothpaste and deodorant, the Caller reported. Washington D.C. logged 8,562 thefts in 2023, a 24% increase from 2022.
T-Mobile’s flagship location in San Francisco recently closed, moving its employees out of the downtown area and into a friendlier location. Whole Foods also closed their first location in the city due to extensive crime and drug use around the store.
The CEO of Gump’s department store—a hallmark store in San Francisco’s downtown—even took out a full page newspaper ad calling out local and state-level politicians for their “destructive” and “failed public policies.
“As San Franciscans, we will continue to support the compassionate efforts of helping those in need,” Chachas said. “But we believe failed public policies must be abandoned and a renewed focus must be brought to restore the city we all love.”
