Major Retailer Puts Entire Inventory on Lockdown at San Francisco Store

Madeline Leesman | April 24, 2023 5:30 PM

This month, Julio reported how San Francisco’s soft-on-crime policies resulted in Whole Foods to close its downtown location after being open for less than a year. The reasons for the closure included safety concerns for staff and customers.

Before deciding to close, the store had reduced hours and enforced bathroom rules after pipes and syringes were found inside them.

A Target location in San Francisco put all of its products on lockdown amid a shoplifting surge, the New York Post reported. Now, basic items, like toiletries, cosmetics, are protected behind lock and key.

San Francisco Target puts entire inventory on lockdown amid shoplifting crisis https://t.co/lclJu05km7 pic.twitter.com/xG1TJNrzvz
— New York Post (@nypost) April 24, 2023

So this is what happens when People are lawless, Target in San Francisco!!pic.twitter.com/3F6zVJGZUN
— Johnny Midnight ⚡️ (@its_the_Dr) April 21, 2023

Reportedly, the cosmetics had been protected since October, and the rest of the store was constructed the same way shortly after (via the New York Post):

The Bay Area has been especially hard hit by a national organized retail crime epidemic that ballooned during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading chains such as Walgreens to close five San Francisco stores due to theft.
The National Retail Federation’s 2022 retail security survey ranked San Francisco/Oakland as the second-most hard-hit metropolitan area by theft in 2020 and 2021, only behind Los Angeles.
The organization lists items like body wash and over-the-counter medication as items that are particularly attractive to shoplifters, who can often sell their stolen wares on the black market to smaller stores.
[..]
Seventy-one percent of retailers surveyed by the association said they had seen a “substantial” or “moderate” increase in organized retail crime, with 55% saying that policies that reduce or eliminate cash bail for non-violent crimes in cities like San Francisco and New York are to blame.

This month, Cash App founder Bob Lee was murdered in a “good” part of the Golden City, which Leah covered. Previously, Lee had moved his family to Florida and was just in town visiting.

Late last year, Townhall reported how a survey published by the San Francisco Chronicle found that one-third of residents said they'd likely to leave the left-wing city within the next three years. The majority, 65 percent, said that “life in the city is worse than when they first moved here.” On top of that, less than one quarter of respondents said they expected life to improve in the region the next two years. Thirty-five percent said it would worsen.

Predictably, homelessness was listed as the top issue impacting the city. Public safety and housing affordability were other top issues.