(Headline USA) A store in San Francisco is requiring customers to shop with an employee escort in an effort to stop “rampant shoplifting.”
Fredericksen’s Hardware & Paint manager Sam Black told KRON4 that smash and grab robberies have become so frequent that the store has become a “dangerous” environment for both paying customers and employees.
“It’s pretty bad,” he said. “I mean, the dollar amounts are pretty significant with the tools, and now we’re getting snatch-and-grabs when they take whole displays … We just want to make it uncomfortable for the thieves so they go somewhere else.”
Underscoring just how far the once-in-demand City by the Bay has fallen, Fredericksen’s, which opened in 1896, is just half a mile from the home of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in a posh, boutiquey neighborhood known as Cow Hollow.
It is unclear if assailant David DePape purchased the hammer from the store that he used to assault Paul Pelosi in October 2022, although it is likely the nearest location to the power couple’s Normandie Terrace mansion where one would obtain such a blunt instrument.
A sign on the front door of the hardware store now explains the new escort policy for customers.
“Due to the rampant shoplifting, Fredericksen has introduced a one-on-one shopping experience: wait here and a clerk will be right with you to help you with all your shopping needs,” the sign tells guests.
The hardware store also had to put in locking systems to keep people from stealing tools and other household hardware.
One customer told the local outlet that the situation is “just sad.”
Regular customers have been “understanding,” Black said, but others “aren’t happy.”
Still, Black insisted, “We just had to do something.”
In a statement responding to the report, San Francisco supervisor Catherine Stefani acknowledged how “embarrassing” it was for the city that its businesses felt the need to implement such policies in the first place.
“This situation is tragic and embarrassing for our city, and it’s all the more reason to get serious about solving our police staffing crisis,” Stefani said.
“We need more police on our streets, and we need them now,” she added. “That’s why I’ll hold a series of hearings in March to push our city agencies to fill the hundreds of vacancies at the Police Department as soon as possible—to stop the bleeding, reverse the damage, and finally protect our residents and small businesses.”
