There is growing concern in Boston after a string of shoplifting incidents at two popular stores in Back Bay.
“We’ve had an increase in shoplifting across the board, across the nation, and that’s no different here in Massachusetts,” said Ryan Kearney, vice president and general counsel of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts.
Last week, thieves were caught on lens stealing thousands of dollars of merchandise from Lululemon on Newbury Street. Surveillance video shows the suspects running out of the store with armloads of clothing. In that video, a sales associate is seen standing by watching the incident unfold, which is what Kearney said employees are advised to do in these situations.
“Be the best witness you can be,” Kearney added.
Boston police are investigating a series of shoplifting cases.
The store was anthem again days later by two juvenile female suspects who fled with hundreds of dollars of merchandise, according to Boston police.
Then on Sunday, five women recognized as repeat shoplifters entered Alo in the Prudential Center and kicked an employee while fleeing the store.
“The target is items that are easily re-sellable and have high demand, and that’s what those types of items that are being stolen recently seem to be,” said Kearney.
The recent incidents are putting renewed emphasis on the issue of retail theft in the city. The Boston City Council held a hearing last week to figure out how to best address the problem.
“We need to ensure that we have zero tolerance for anyone stealing anything,” said City Councilor Ed Flynn. “We have to have more police, also, in the area, in the neighborhoods — a better response time from the police, as well — but also, there has to be some criminal justice reform to discount with the ongoing retail theft.”
Shoplifting is up about 15% in Boston over the last year, according to police, who note that part of the increase may be due to more incidents being reported.
Last year, Boston police launched the Safe Shopping Initiative with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, leading to more reports and more arrests.
“The Safe Shopping Initiative is exactly the right start for us, for downtown. I think, in time, for Back Bay and the rest of the city, it’s going to pay dividends,” said Michael Nichols, president of Downtown Boston Alliance.
Nichols said although the issue has improved over the last year, more could be done to root out the problem.
“The Legislature, many years ago, actually significantly increased the felony theft threshold from something like $250 at a time to like $1,200,” he said. “So the penalties for someone stealing $800, $900, $1,000 worth of product actually went down over the last several years, and I think it’s time to return back to the threshold we were at before.”
All of these incidents remain under investigation. It’s unclear whether the two crimes at Lululemon were connected.
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