Greggs has removed self-service display cabinets in stores worst affected by shoplifting, with staff now handing products to customers from behind theft-proof counters. The bakery chain is trialling the new format in a selection of outlets to deter habitual thieves.
Branches in Croydon, Peckham, Whitechapel, Upton Park, Birmingham and Wilford, Nottinghamshire, are testing the change. Greggs is also introducing software systems that supply information directly to police stations as part of the anti-theft measures.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to describe shoplifting as “disgraceful” while announcing steps to tackle the epidemic, including a new offence of assaulting a retail worker. He will point to the recruitment of 3,000 extra neighbourhood police officers and the scrapping of the effective immunity for thefts under £200, which he called a “shoplifters’ charter”.
The move comes amid rising retail crime, with figures showing annual shoplifting offences in England and Wales have passed half a million for the first time. Rivals Pret a Manger and Costa have reportedly hired security staff to guard stock, while the British Retail Consortium said criminal gangs were “systematically” targeting shops, with 5.5 million incidents costing an estimated £400 million.
Marks & Spencer chairman Archie Norman recently said self-checkouts had fuelled shoplifting among “good, honest people”. Greggs said its trial was one of a number of initiatives across a small number of shops exposed to higher levels of antisocial behaviour.
