I’m a pound shop boss – Crooks are using a chilling new tactic to swipe products from shelves
A POUND shop boss has revealed crooks are using a chilling new tactic to swipe products from shelves.
Criminals are cashing in on the cost of living crisis by stealing bag loads of items in order to resell on the black market.
Discount chain OneBeyond claimed the problem had become so bad that they were installing CCTV cameras in every branch.
Launched by the founders of Poundworld, the company said it is also doubling the number of stores with security guards from 20 to 40 per cent.
The chain is to open its 100th UK store next month and used to sell items for under a pound.
It now sells groceries and electrical goods up to £30.
Chairman Chris Edwards Snr told The Grocer magazine that shoplifters only used to steal one or two items.
Edwards, who launched the brand in 2019 with son Chris Edwards Jnr, said now they are stealing in bulk to resell.
He said: “I’ll go out and stand on the shop floor, just to look at one of our shops, and you can practically see people [shoplifting].
“In the old days, shoplifting was a couple of kids coming in to nick a couple of things.
“Then, they couldn’t pinch anything costing more than £1, because that’s all we sold, but OneBeyond has more expensive stuff.
“I think shoplifting has become more organised. We’ll get people come in and clear a whole shelf of bars of chocolate. They won’t just pinch one, they will pinch a shelf-full, into a bag.
“If it’s in an outer-box, where they’re supposed to take one out, they’ll just take the outer-box.
“A lot of expensive cleaning products and jars of coffee, that kind of stuff – it’s all resaleable.
“People who don’t want to pay the full price, regular shoplifters will now supply them.”