Retail crime ring busted as major stores 'fear' rising thefts heading into holiday shopping season
Nearly $100 billion lost to retail thefts in 2021, up 4% from a year before according to National Retail Federation
FOX Business' Jeff Flock reports from the Jackson Premium Outlets in Jackson, New Jersey, which fell victim to an organized retail crime operation.
Major retailers are feeling the wrath of raging theft and crime across the nation ahead of the holiday shopping season.
Authorities in Jackson, New Jersey, busted a Baltimore-based retail crime ring earlier this month at the Jackson Premium Outlets, where plainclothes police apprehended a suspect allegedly using counterfeit bills to make fraudulent purchases, according to a Jackson Police Department press release. While $1,000-worth of fake hundred-dollar bills were recovered, the suspect was also reportedly linked to a professional shoplifting group responsible for stealing nearly $60,000 in merchandise from the outlets.
Video obtained by the National Retail Industry Leaders Association showed easy-to-steal items like pain relievers, deodorant and toothpaste found in bulk for resale, FOX Business' Jeff Flock reported on "Varney & Co." Monday.
In 2021, retail shrink, or thefts, cost the industry $94.5 billion in losses, up 4% year-over-year according to the latest data from the National Retail Federation.
But that same report indicates cases of organized retail crime rings - where criminals are hired to steal specific items which are typically resold online - have surged more than 26% from the year prior.
TARGET EXEC SAYS RETAIL THEFT HAS HURT COMPANY'S GROSS PROFIT MARGIN
Retail thefts cost the industry nearly $100 billion in 2021, according to the National Retail Federation's 2022 National Retail Security Survey. (Getty Images)
Drugstore companies like Rite Aid, CVS and Walgreens have publicly cited shoplifting concerns, as well as retailers such as Kroger, Target and Best Buy.
Target CFO Michael Fiddelke, speaking during the company’s third-quarter earnings call last Wednesday, said a factor affecting Target’s gross margin is "inventory shortage, or shrink, which is a growing problem facing all retailers."
"At Target, year to date, the incremental shortage has already reduced our gross margin by more than $400 million versus last year, and we expect to reduce our gross margin by more than $600 million for the full year," he said.
Third-quarter gross margin rate was 24.7%, compared with 28% in 2021.
"This is an industry-wide problem that is often driven by criminal networks, and we are collaborating with multiple stakeholders to find industry-wide solutions."
Locked up merchandise, to prevent theft at a Target store in Queens, New York. (Getty Images)
Target "strongly supports" legislation to "increase accountability and prevent criminals from selling stolen goods through online marketplaces," Fiddelke added.
Additionally, Rite Aid CEO Heyward Donigan and Chief Retail Officer Andre Persaud in September noted "shrink" as an issue the pharmacy chain was dealing with, particularly in its New York City locations.
John Catsimatidis, a billionaire New York City grocery chain owner, told FOX Business Monday he may cut back store hours to protect employees from violent behavior.
"Our stores used to be open until midnight. We're going to reconsider that and bring the hours down because there's nobody walking the streets because of fear," John Catsimatidis, CEO of New York City supermarkets Gristedes and D’Agonisto, said on "Mornings with Maria." "Fear, fear, fear that somebody's going to get hit over the head."
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers led by Colorado Republican Ken Buck proposed legislation in October that would form a new task force aimed at combating the nationwide surge in mob retail theft.
Buck previously told Fox News his bill, which he will introduce Friday, is a companion to Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley's Combating Organized Retail Crime Act and characterized it as a strong, bipartisan response to the nationwide crime wave.
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FOX Business' Jeff Flock reports from Jackson, New Jersey, where an organized retail crime ring was recently busted.
Buck blamed President Biden and the administration for failing to get a handle on the chaos.
"The explosion of organized, smash-and-grab looting of retail stores is a symptom of the underlying collapse of law and order in America under the Biden administration," Buck told Fox News, disputing Biden's 2021 claim that crime is "down."
FOX Business’ Aislinn Murphy and Fox News’ Charles Creitz contributed to this report.