XPost: sac.politics, alt.fan.sean-hannity, free.racist.maxine.waters
XPost: alt.journalism.newspapers

SAN FRANCISCO — Walgreens said Tuesday that it will close five
more stores in San Francisco next month because of organized
retail theft in another blow to a city that has earned an
embarrassing reputation for widespread and brazen shoplifting.

The stores will close down next month, SFGATE reported. It said
Walgreens has closed at least 10 stores in the city since the
start of 2019.

"Retail theft across our San Francisco stores has continued to
increase in the past few months to five times our chain average"
despite large increases in security, Walgreens spokesperson Phil
Caruso said.

San Francisco Supervisor Ahsha Safai said he was devastated by
the loss of a Mission Street store that "has been a staple for
seniors, families and children for decades."

"This is a sad day for San Francisco," Safai told SFGATE. "We
can't continue to let these anchor institutions close that so
many people rely on."

Last year, Walgreens closed one store where the chain said it
was losing $1,000 a day to thefts.

Frustration and fear over thefts have been fueled by widely
circulating images of shoplifting caught on video. This summer,
shoplifters in masks carrying armfuls of designer handbags
sprinted from a downtown Neiman Marcus department store and into
getaway cars.

In June, a masked man was caught on video at a Walgreens,
stuffing items into a trash bag before cruising out of the store
on a bicycle. A suspect was arrested in that theft.

Last month, Mayor London Breed and Police Chief Bill Scott
announced that they will dedicate more police, beef up
coordination and make it easier to report shoplifters.

The strategy aims to counter thieving that has added to the
liberal city’s reputation as being soft on crime.

"We care about criminal justice reform. We care about second
chances. We care about making sure that people are not wrongly
accused," Breed in announcing the new measures. "But don’t take
our kindness for weakness, our compassion for weakness."

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/walgreens-closing-5-san- francisco-stores-shoplifting-fears-rcna3015

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