San Francisco store requires customers to shop with employee escort to curb ‘rampant shoplifting’

A San Francisco store is no longer allowing customers to roam around and shop without being escorted by an employee in an attempt to stop “rampant shoplifting,” according to a report.

Fredericksen’s Hardware and Paint in the city’s Cow Hollow neighborhood has put up a sign announcing that during certain hours it will be taking customers only one at a time to curb the incessant thefts.

The shop is blocking off part of the store’s entrance and corralling shoppers in a waiting area until an employee is able to help them, KRON4 reported.

“Attention shoppers,” the sign reads. “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.

“We’re sorry for the inconvenience,” the notice concludes.

The store’s longtime manager, Sam Black, told the outlet that while the move could be a nuisance to customers it was worth trying for the sake of the business and its employees.

He said the shoplifting is the worst it’s ever been in his 24 years working at the business in the Golden Gate City, which is grappling with surging crime.

The staff has even had to drill down pots and pans to keep shoplifters from snatching them. They’ve also had to lock up tools and other hardware products.

“It’s pretty bad,” Black said.  “I mean, the dollar amounts are pretty significant, and with the tools and now we’re getting snatch-and-grabs when they take whole displays, so it’s getting kind of dangerous for the employees and the customers.”

The new rules are in effect for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening, Black said. A table blocks the entrance to keep thieves from entering the store unattended.

“We just want to make it uncomfortable for the thieves so they go somewhere else,” Black said.

One customer told KRON4 the situation is “just sad.”

“Yeah, people aren’t happy,” Black said. “The regulars can’t believe it like we can’t believe it, but they’ve been really understanding.”

The security experiment has been going on for three weeks now, Black said. He said the store will review the results at the end of the month.

San Francisco supervisor Catherine Stefani called the situation “embarrassing” for the city.

“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,” she told the outlet in a statement. “We need more police on our streets, and we need them now.”

Other stores in San Francisco have abandoned their self checkout lines to stop criminals.