Having previously placed items like electronics, cleaning and beauty supplies behind locked doors, Walmart and Target stores and now being forced to protect more general items to help keep losses due to theft — known as “shrinkage” — to a minimum. "It comes to the point of how ghetto does it look that they have to lock up the socks or whatever it is that they have under the key," shopper Olga Leon told a local Bay Area affiliate of NBC News. Another shopper told the outlet he would be angered by being forced to buy socks that were locked up. "I'd be very upset," said Curtis Edwards. "I got to call somebody to come up from the counter to get socks." Retail theft has been a major problem across the U.S., but particularly in California. Last year, numerous businesses were shuttered in Southern California after a surge in crime that resulted in 9,455 burglaries being reported in Los Angeles alone. Dozens of high-end stores and boutiques (including Barney’s, Battistoni, Nike Town, Escasda, Brooks Brothers, Indochino, and Kylin Gallery) closed their doors as organized retail theft rings targeted Beverly Hills. Overall, shoplifting is up 14 percent from 2021. Richmond City Councilmember Cesar Cepeda told NBC he fears more stores will close. "The cost will go up as residents will have to pay more [if] they'll have to commute and travel farther to pick up their groceries, to pick up their socks, to pick up their prescriptions," Cepeda said. "It's really going to be hurting our community." At the end of last summer, Target announced it was closing three stores in the Bay Area because of retail theft losses. "We cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests, and contributing to unsustainable business performance," the company said in a statement on its website. "We know that our stores serve an important role in their communities, but we can only be successful if the working and shopping environment is safe for all."California retailers are now putting underwear and socks behind lock and key as retail theft continues to be a persistent problem across the state.
