For tens of millions of Americans, shopping or filling a prescription at their local pharmacy has changed dramatically this decade. Organized retail crime and opportunistic shoplifting have reached unprecedented levels, forcing retailers to adopt measures like locking up products or hiring private security. While intended to deter theft, these practices create barriers for customers and degrade the shopping experience. The result: reduced sales, limited access to essential goods, and overburdened employees.
Organized retail crime continues to harm communities nationwide, with incidents like a Nashville attack where suspects used bear spray on a security guard and bystanders, a San Francisco theft ring that brazenly filled bags with merchandise, and a New York City heist where masked individuals openly carted stolen goods out of a store.
In response, affected retailers have instituted theft prevention measures like locking up products, body cameras, and private security. The National Retail Federation reported that 98 percent of small retail business owners have adopted anti-theft measures, with the most common being price increases and the second security cameras. Aisles full of locked plexiglass cases have become common at many CVS and Walgreens stores, where consumers must wait for an employee to unlock them. These remedies deter sales, degrade customer experiences, and fail to tackle the root cause of retail crime.
Weak laws on retail crime embolden organized theft networks, disrupt trust and safety, and damage local economies. This increase of retail crime is concentrated in large cities controlled by progressives with lenient prosecutorial policies, where prosecutors have neglected their duty to hold criminals accountable and the local population has little confidence in the police. In some of our largest cities, liberal prosecutors have used their prosecutorial discretion to decline charging shoplifters and organized retail crime participants.
What has followed are retail store closures in high-crime and low-population areas, creating retail and pharmacy deserts disproportionately impacting low-income and minority communities. In these communities, pharmacies are often the first point of care for individuals managing chronic illnesses, seeking vaccinations, or accessing everyday health needs. As pharmacies and retailers vanish, public safety erodes, local economies weaken, and public health systems strain under the pressure.
More than 35% of retail pharmacies in New York, West Virginia, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Mississippi have closed. And, this crisis extends beyond pharmacies. Major retailers like Walmart, Target, and Best Buy are grappling with similar pressures, which signals retail theft has become a systemic problem. Left unchecked, this wave of theft will fundamentally reshape community retail, leaving residents without essential services and placing greater strain on vulnerable populations.
These effectively forced closures of essential business have created retail and pharmacy deserts that deprive vulnerable communities of healthcare access, basic necessities, and economic opportunities. Public health experts have noted that the first neighborhoods to lose their pharmacies are often predominantly Black, Hispanic and low-income. Store closures strip families of access to essential goods, cost employees their livelihoods, and rob communities of safe and reliable places to gather and shop.
Addressing this issue requires a coordinated effort to empower law enforcement, enforce stricter penalties, implement harsher policies, support retailers in securing operations, and foster collaboration between the public and private sectors. Organized retail crime is a sophisticated, multi-jurisdictional problem that's becoming increasingly costly. In the first half of 2023 alone, organized retail crime cost retailers over $293 million. As Lisa LaBruno, Senior Executive Vice President of Retail Operations for the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), noted, “Organized retail crime is such a complex challenge; while there is no overnight or one-size-fits-all solution, we know collaboration is essential to combat the problem. A unified response is an effective one, and that’s what the Store Walk Initiative is designed to enable.”
Law and order are the foundation of a thriving society. The surge in retail theft is a challenge for businesses, and a serious threat to public safety and community stability. Stronger protections for pharmacies and other retailers, combined with firm accountability and intensified law enforcement, are required to safeguard communities, support public health, and ensure the success of local businesses. For the millions of Americans who depend on these vital institutions, the time for decisive action is now.
