Shoplifting has become so bad in San Francisco that some stores are now padlocking shut their fridges and tying metal chains to ensure the doors remain closed overnight.
Video shot by one potential shopper at a local Walgreens in the city sees aisle after aisle of products behind Perspex and glass.
Even lower value items such as toothpaste and tissues are kept under lock and key, such is the rampant theft that has been occurring in many of the city’s pharmacies.
At one particular location, the fridge doors are entirely chained up with staff concerned thieves will come into the store overnight to emptying the contents.
Shop workers have already reported a problem with thieves coming in to the store as many as 20 times a day to fill bags full of products including items that need to be kept at a cool temperatures such as frozen pizza and ice cream.
Shoplifting has become so bad in San Francisco that some stores are now padlocking shut their fridges and tying metal chains to ensure the doors remain closed overnight
Video shot by one potential shopper at a local Walgreens in the city sees aisle after aisle of products behind Perspex and glass.
One local branch of Walgreens is completely boarded up, although it is still open
The problem of such wanton theft is not unique to San Francisco; other big cities across the nation including in New York have also been dealing with the problem over the last few years.
In some cases has left pharmacy chains no option but to leave areas completely with massive thefts hurting the bottom line.
The pictures of chained up merchandise marks a new low points with stores risking alienating legitimate customers who can no longer be bothered to go through the rigmarole of having to summon a staff simply to grab something off the shelf.
One local branch of Walgreens is completely boarded up, although still open, and was recently the scene of a fatal confrontation between a homeless trans woman and a security guard.
Similar scenes appear to be playing out across California. Across San Francisco Bay, in Vallejo, a supermarket desperate to slow the constant shoplifting that has plagued has installed giant metal barriers at exits to stop the thefts.
Safeway recently added metal emergency exit gates in front of one of the entrances that warn an ‘alarm will sound’ if thieves try to leave the building.
The Vallejo store closed a second entrance and other locations are said to be following suit to deter thieves from stealing.
Some Safeway locations installed exit bars months ago, as one shopper took to Twitter to show one store going to the extreme, blocking off closed checkout lanes with large metal gates, as well as lining pathways leading out of the store with obstructions as well.
A Safeway in Vallejo recently installed metal emergency exit gates in front of one of the entrances that warn an ‘alarm will sound’ if shoppers or shoplifters attempted to leave the building
An Oakland store installed gates on each checkout lane that is closed to stopped shoplifters
Threatening signs tell customers that an ‘alarm will sound’ if customers use the exit
Shoplifting and theft have been a huge problem in San Francisco has it becomes overrun with the homeless and drug addicts
‘Bars everywhere, multiple security guards, you have to scan your receipt for the gate to open in order to exit, and if you don’t buy anything an employee has to open the gate to let you out,’ a Twitter user remarked earlier this year regarding an Oakland Safeway store.
Many cities in California have dealt with high-crime rates and homelessness as liberal policies have done little to stem the problems.
That has caused people to move out of the state and hurt economic activities in some downtowns, including San Francisco.
San Francisco has greatly been impacted by major businesses packing their bags after the streets have been overtaken by the homeless and drug-addicts, which has fueled crime.
Tourism is down by 16 percent from pre-pandemic levels and workers have abandoned their offices to work from home and stores are emptying out. In its place, some 7,000 homeless have descended on downtown areas and tourist traps.
San Francisco’s once bustling Union Square and downtown area is a shadow of its former self: rows of empty stores, sparse crowds even on peak weekend shopping days and nearby hotels – including a huge Hilton – unable to cover their mortgage payments.
The historic Flood Building, a survivor of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, stands largely empty: Gap has gone along with nearly every other business in the property with the exception of a tired branch of Dr. Martens and an Urban Outfitters store offering 70 percent discounts.
Robbery is up 12.5 percent in San Francisco, while overall crime compared with 2022 figures is down 5.9 percent
On Market Street is the soon-to-be sold Westfield San Francisco Center, the doorways reeking of urine and every store is staffed by hulking security guards.
Westfield announced its planned departure last month and several occupants of the mall have already said they’ll follow.
Days later, AT&T announced its iconic flagship store around the corner at 1 Powell Street, one of the largest in the country, was to permanently close.
Ross Dress For Less and Saks Off 5th are operating a one-in, one-out system to deter thieves while Nordstrom Rack is closing down altogether in September – along with its sister Nordstrom and scores of other stores such as T-Mobile and Payless Shoes.
Edward Liu, 49, a local resident and hospital worker told DailyMail.com: ‘A lot of the stores are closing, a lot of hotels are shutting down. ‘You don’t get the numbers in downtown anymore because a lot of people are working from home.
‘The homeless don’t make people want to stay for sure – it’s just not very appealing.
‘They defecate, they urinate on the street. They do drugs on the street. The mayor isn’t doing anything and it’s been like this for a very long time.’
Commercial realtor Mark Ritchie told DailyMail.com that San Francisco had suffered particularly badly from the rise of remote working which has decimated footfall in the financial district and Union Square areas.
He said: ‘The office market in San Francisco is devastated. It’s had the most severe backlash from Covid and remote work because of how tech-oriented the economy in the Bay Area is.
‘San Francisco is one of the hardest cities to commute into downtown so the remote work crowd, there’s even more resistance.’
Robbery is up nearly 15 percent in San Francisco, while overall crime is down 6.7 percent.
Target at the Metreon is experiencing a theft ‘every 10 minutes’ according to staff
Target in city has also resorted to putting large amounts of products behind glass
Care products including bars of soap and body can be seen here under lock and key at Target
One worker said that they at least a theft ten thefts a day and that it happens every ten minutes
In a Target in the City by the Bay work say they the store is being shoplifted every ten minutes.
Employees say they have watched individuals actively ‘shoveling’ goods into bags before making off.
Other goods including trays of lipstick and nail polishes are being cleaned out by shoplifters on a daily basis, sparking fears the store could be next to flee San Francisco’s rapidly-emptying downtown.
One worker inside the store at the Metreon, a shopping mall near San Francisco’s Union Square, told the San Francisco Standard: ‘Every 10 minutes you see it.
‘Look in some corner of the store, and you’ll see people shoveling stuff into a bag – food, cosmetics.’
An anonymous worker told the news site: ‘It’s sad seeing it, that someone has to steal diapers for their kid.’
According to the news site, staff members said they regularly see people who appear to be homeless taking food, and sometimes eating it in the store.
Another worker said they see empty candy bar wrappers, cans of soda and occasionally liquor bottles around the store.
They said: ‘I understand; they need to eat.’
According to one worker, aluminum foil and over-the-counter contraception pills are sought after by shoplifters.
The foil is said to be used to help drug users smoke fentanyl, a worker said.
Video footage of a nearby Target has been shared on social media and shows large quantities of their stock now behind barriers.
San Francisco has been blighted by a string of retail closures since the pandemic as the city has failed to deal with rising crime and drug problems
The Nordstrom Rack in downtown San Francisco closed on July 1
The Market Street Anthropologie (pictured) closed its doors on May 13
Whole Foods also closed a flagship store in downtown San Francisco in April
Office Depot, located on Third Street (pictured) ,will also be closing
In the spring, retail giant Nordstrom announced they would be closing all of their locations in the city.
The company said that due to the ‘changing dynamics’ of San Francisco it would be shuttering all remaining stores in the next few months.
In April, Whole Foods announced it was closing all their locations, with Anthropologie and Office Depot having also made the same decisions.
The stores joined the growing list of stores that have abandoned the coastal city, including H&M, Marshall’s, Gap and Banana Republic.
Whole Foods had opened a new ‘flagship’ location at Trinity Place in the city’s Tenderloin District in March of last year.
The company had hoped to revitalize footfall after two years of COVID-19 restrictions severely impacted business in the area.
A year on and the organic food giant declared they would be closing their store ‘for the time being’ over safety concerns.
A Target spokesperson said: ‘Retail crime is an urgent issue that is increasingly impacting the team and guests at Target and other retailers.
‘It’s an issue that affects all of us, limiting product availability, creating a less convenient shopping experience, and most importantly, putting our team and guests in harm’s way.
‘We are working with legislators, law enforcement, and retail industry partners to advocate for public policy solutions to combat retail crime.’
