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Shoplifting in Charlotte has risen more than 20 percent this year, a worrisome trend for retailers and a vexing problem for police as other property crimes decline.
The trend also appears to be accelerating: Shoplifting was up almost 40 percent in the third quarter of 2009 compared with the third quarter last year.
National numbers aren't yet available, but experts say shoplifting is surging across America as millions have lost jobs and income. Items stolen range from basics such as food and drugstore cosmetics to luxury items such as electronics.
A spokesman for Matthews-based Family Dollar Stores said the chain is seeing more frequent shoplifting from different parts of its stores.
"It's kind of migrated from the areas we're used to seeing theft, like small stuff from near the register ... to what we see as a basic need type of thing," spokesman Joshua Braverman said. "We're seeing people steal from areas that we didn't see before, like the food aisle.
"We think they're desperate."
A spokesman for Belk stores declined to give specifics but said shoplifting in its local department stores hasn't risen as much as the overall surge reported by Charlotte-Mecklenburg police. Spokespersons for Food Lion and Harris Teeter grocery stores also wouldn't discuss the crime for security reasons.
The rise began last year, according to the National Retail Security Survey. "Shrink," the industry term for inventory lost to theft, rose in 2008 from 1.44 percent to 1.51 percent of total sales.
That might not sound like much, but the National Retail Federation estimates that shoplifters stole almost $13 billion in merchandise from stores across the country last year.
Much of the loss is passed on to consumers: The federation estimates the average household pays $350 a year in higher prices as a result of shoplifting.
Retail theft typically climbs during recession. In the 2001 downturn, national shrink rates were even higher - 1.8 percent of retailers' inventory disappeared.
As people lose their jobs and income, some resort to risking arrest and prosecution by taking what they need.
"There are legitimately people who are struggling," said Rhett Asher, the federation's vice president of loss prevention. "They are finding it harder and harder to support families."
Jack Trlica, editor and publisher of the Charlotte-based magazine Loss Prevention, agrees the economy is driving much of the rise. "It's not the person who makes their living day to day shoplifting" who are compounding retailers' problems, Trlica said. "It's people who are having a tough time making ends meet."
But some say bad economic conditions aren't the only culprit. Police Sgt. Steve Huber works off-duty security at several Food Lion stores, watching for and detaining shoplifters.
"In all the arrests we've made, there was not one person stealing to feed their family," Huber said. He usually catches people with items like beer, candy and deodorant.
"We call it the need vs. greed," Asher said. "There's also a rise of shoplifting of very expensive items."
Making things worse, experts say organized retail crime is also up sharply. The rings are run by professional thieves who shoplift hot consumer items - or steal entire shipments - then sell the goods themselves.
Theft is largely left to individual retailers to deal with. Police typically get involved after store security calls them.
Officers in some Charlotte divisions have taken a proactive approach. At the Mountain Island Wal-Mart in Sgt. Huber's area, an officer walked through the store to look for goods vulnerable to theft.
"(The officer) was looking to give tips to the Wal-Mart manager if he saw he didn't have anything secured," Huber said.
Solutions can be as simple as replacing commonly stolen medications with an information card on the shelf instead of the actual product. Customers then must go purchase the item from behind the pharmacy counter.
Stolen goods are often sold on eBay and Craigslist, sold to professional "fences" or even bartered for other goods and services.
Trlica was talking to a hair stylist last month when he learned about an unusual offer that likely involved stolen goods: "One of (the stylist's) clients was telling him that in return for hairstyling she could get him T-bone steaks, any kind of meat you want."
