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By: Mario Mancini
Bodega owners are resorting to chaining and locking up jugs of laundry detergent, the most expensive items in the shop, as shoplifting has reached an all-time high and it’s mostly the fault of radical leftist prosecutors and local socialist leadership.
“We’re losing a lot of money, and we have to pay employees only to check, to sit by the door and watch — otherwise, we’re going to lose everything,” said Barbara Trinidad, to The New York Post, who owns a bodega in Manhattan and another in The Bronx, while attending a press conference Sunday by a bodega-owners association decrying the crime.
Neighborhood stores across the five boroughs experience “looting” daily, said United Bodegas of America President Fernando Mateo at Sunday’s gathering.
“You’ll notice on some of the aisles the more expensive products are chained up so that people don’t come in and steal them and sell them” Mateo said of Fordham Hill Food on Sedgwick Avenue in The Bronx, which hosted the press conference.
Bodegas are vital to the community, especially in areas that are considered “food deserts”, meaning there are no larger markets to get groceries from. Also, corner stores are often open 24/7 and help keep the streets safe. People know that at least business is open on the block and can feel confident being out at night. And where can one go for toilet paper in the middle of the night?
Fordham Hills Food’s ice-cream refrigerator was empty “because of so much theft,” Mateo said — adding that the store’s owner planned to get a lock for the fridge in the future.
Locks on everyday items makes the entire bodega experience less seamless for customers, Mateo said.
Trinidad estimated losing 15 to 20% off her bottom line to theft, writes Haley Brown and David Meyer of The New York Post.
“NYPD is doing their job, they come when you call them. They will make an arrest, but that person will usually get a desk-appearance ticket, and nothing will happen to him because the district attorneys and the judges are not willing to prosecute these type of crimes. And that is a problem,” Matteo explained to The New York Post.
“We hope that this will stop. The sooner the better. We don’t have a gauge. We are in a recession. People out there are desperate, and they’re looking for a quick buck. So what’s the fastest buck you can get and get away with it? Coming into a bodega and running out with whatever you can and selling it.”
The decriminalizing of shoplifting is yet another plank of extreme left lawmakers, done in the name of “equity”. Radical leftists assume most shoplifters are people of color, which in itself highlights the deep-seated racism of the left. Decriminalization of shoplifting actually hurts poor neighborhoods, as stores leave, leaving the locals with little shopping options.
Common sense think-tank City Journal pointed out last year:
The National Retail Federation, which represents large national chains, reported that 75 percent of its members have experienced increased retail thefts recently. Shoplifting is costing these stores an average of $719,548 per $1 billion in sales. Small shops, from mom-and-pops to neighborhood bodegas, have been hit even harder. A survey from business.org found that daily shoplifting nearly doubled from 2020 to 2021, and that almost 90 percent.
Most importantly, the think tank points out: local prosecutors have the authority and capacity to address retail theft.
