Charity shops says 'brazen' shoplifters target stores daily

A charity shop owner has highlighted a rise in "brazen" shoplifting as the crime hits its highest levels in Greater Manchester for more than 20 years.

Zoe, who runs the store in Stockport, told BBC Radio Manchester she had not called the police for years "as they don't come out for thefts under £200" - and the charity was suffering as a result.

It comes as latest Home Office figures showed the most instances of shoplifting in the city region since records began in 2003, with more than 18,000 crimes recorded by police in the year to March.

Greater Manchester Police said officers would investigate shoplifting "no matter the value of items stolen".

The force treated the problem as a "priority across all districts", it said, adding all "businesses should report crimes".

The 2023-2024 shoplifting figures for Greater Manchester represent a 12 per cent rise from 16,496 on the previous year.

"I have vulnerable people working in my shop, and I think they just take a chance," said Zoe, whose store the BBC has agreed not to identify.

"We have to have our wits about us to try and stop them."

She said she suspects those involved are shoplifting for "drug money, to sell stuff on, or to dress nice".

Zoe added: "It’s taking money off the charity and we need all the money we can get."

Michelle Robinson, who manages The Children’s Society store in Northenden said there had been some "really bad confrontations" with shoplifters, including one occasion someone threatened to pull out a knife.

"Police don’t do anything to help, if we confront them we get a lot of abuse, and then we call the police and they come out like a week later", she said.

Becky Elliott, from the Reach Out to the Community shop in Chorlton, said there had "definitely been an increase" in the past year.

"There are opportunists who think volunteers might not confront them, and see it as an easy target".

The rise in shoplifting has also caused a financial headache for small businesses.

Craig Etchells, who runs several newsagents in Chorlton, Manchester, said he cannot afford to bring in security measures seen in bigger stores to tackle the problem.

Vish Maheshwari, a professor of marketing from the University of Salford's business school, said many of the "key reasons" for the increase in shoplifting were linked to the rise in the cost of living.

But factors like poverty, drug addiction, and mental heath crises also played a role, he said.

Mr Etchells said his stores had always had "kids coming in and nicking a chocolate bar", but it was the rise in adults taking items like soap powder, alcohol, and coffee that was troubling.

"They're not people nicking a loaf of bread or a pint of milk to get by, they're taking higher value items they think they can easily sell on."

He said adding the "next level of protection", like putting certain good in locked casing, can "put off normal customers", and was an "additional cost for our small shops".

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