Stock taken off shelves to stop 'brazen' thieves

A shop manager said he has been forced to take stock off shelves to prevent it being stolen by "brazen" shoplifters.

Gareth Robbins, who manages Poundland in Southgate Street, Gloucester, said thieves came in "every day" and filled bags, with staff suffering verbal abuse and racist remarks if they challenged the culprits.

Mr Robbins said high price lines, such as Duracell batteries and Lynx deodorants, were favoured by shoplifters.

He said he and his staff employed defensive merchandising, meaning they lowered shelves, changed the location of desirable items within the store, or put one case of an item out at a time.

"You ask [shoplifters] to take things out of their bag and you get verbally abused, racist remarks," he said.

"I tell the staff not to stop them because quite a few of them are gentlemen and of large stature - we don't know what could be in their bags."

Earlier this year, two women worked together to steal a pair of leggings from Kate Lancaster's shop.

While it was of small financial impact, Ms Lancaster, who owns Bizarre on Westgate Street, said it all built up.

"People can be quite unkind or belittling to staff members which is really not necessary when they're only there to try and help people," she said.

In response to the abuse received by shop staff, Gloucester Business Improvement District (BID) has been supporting ShopKind Week, a national campaign calling for kindness and respect to retail employees.

"I think if [the scheme] brings awareness, people will, hopefully, stop and think that these people are human, they're not just automatous," Ms Lancaster added.

Emily Gibbon, BID manager, said shoppers' impatience has increased, but "just being polite" and "a smile goes a very long way".

Follow BBC Gloucestershire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.