A Gristedes supermarket in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York on Tuesday, November 20, 2018. Gristedes owner, John Catsimatidis announced that as shoplifting has reached epic proportions the stores are taking additional security measures including hiring retired police officers. (Photo by Richard B. Levine)
NY: Gristedes supermarket chain to combat shoplifting
NEW YORK (77WABC) — Shoplifters are targeting supermarket across New York city with increasingly brazen heists — emboldened by soft-on-crime laws.
The city’s 30 Gristedes and D’Agostino stores have seen a 30% spike in shoplifting year compared to last year. Store president Joe Parisi told the New York Post he blames the increase on the lack of prosecution and arrests for stealing less than $1,000 worth of goods.
In response, Gristedes and D’Agostino managers are marking Haagen-Daas pints so they can trace where they are resold. A grocer in the Bronx told the New York Post he has instructed his staff to face off with thieves in groups as large as a half-dozen.
A robber was caught on surveillance video stealing $72,000 from the Sariling Atin Grill and Filipino Grocery on Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst in December of 2021.
