As shoplifting headlines continue to dominate the national press, Lark’s co-owner, Priya Aurora-Crowe, says that there has been more shoplifting in the past three months than in the 20 years since her husband Dom started out as a London-based gift retailer. “These days, he’s always on the phone to the police,” states Priya.
“We’re a lifestyle and gift retailer, and the shoplifters target our 22 stores across South and West London mainly for clothes, perfumes and sunglasses,” she highlights. “The shoplifters – usually several of them – pick up all the hangers on the rail and walk out with the clothes, coming in to shoplift from us twice a day – morning and afternoon. They do it brazenly, in broad daylight, and even say things to the staff such as ‘see you later babes!’. We have CCTV in all our stores, but really, there’s nothing we can do to stop them.”
Priya explains: “One evening, Dom was notified on his phone from the alarm, and watched a man breaking into one of our stores on CCTV. He called the police while he was driving to the shop, who told him that they do not investigate commercial break-ins. It’s why shoplifting crime is escalating and why shoplifters get away with it. Unless the thieves steal goods worth over £2,000 the crime is unpunishable. We get the same guy breaking in at night every two weeks, so every two weeks we have to replace the shop window. Fortunately, we have a really good insurance policy, and it’s my strongest recommendation to other retailers, as not all insurance policies offer this type of cover. Nevertheless, we have to pay the excess.”
Priya has expressed her concerns regarding the seemingly unstoppable shoplifting epidemic to Parliament. “I have a friend who is an MP, and one that is a councillor, and they are pushing for the government to do something that will stop this wave of crime. We need police allocation, to include officers patrolling the streets and the government making it a punishable offence. Currently, shoplifters know that the police won’t investigate, and many of them know the repeat offenders already. We feel that because we are London based, serious shoplifting is happening to us sooner than possibly other regions of the country, something we believe is going to spread.
“There’s the shoplifter who steals right in front of you and could easily be dangerous, as they couldn’t care less about the consequences and what happens to them, and the undetected shoplifter who doesn’t want any drama, and sneaks in and sneaks out of the shop. From a retailer’s perspective, if you spot and apprehend a shoplifter and you keep them in the shop and demand that they give the items back then you could be prosecuted for false imprisonment. This is something I want to highlight to other retailers,” states Priya.
She is naturally concerned about the company’s staff, commenting: “You can’t pay people enough to work in this type of retail environment. At Lark, we have always promoted a happy, enjoyable vibe in all our stores, and what’s happening today is the antithesis of that. We now try to hire security staff who can also work on the shop floor.”
As she says, it’s easy for anyone to turn to shoplifting when Tik Tok tells its young followers how to steal from shops, pointing out when security guards at local, as well as major retailers, take their breaks. (In August, a Tik Tok video encouraged organised shoplifting in Central London, on a specified day and at a specified time, that caused chaos and involved the police).
“We’ve also seen people at car boot sales selling their looted products in broad daylight, a case in point being a seller at Vauxhall market with a haul of confectionery that had clearly been stolen,” Priya continues. “It’s re-selling above ground, blatantly advertising how unpunishable shoplifting has become.”
She believes that if the government does nothing about making shoplifting a punishable crime then retailers will eventually be forced to close their high street shops and sell online, and/or to increase their prices to compensate.
“Something must be done, and soon, but it will take government intervention,” Priya states. “Meanwhile, all we retailers can do is to go on shouting about it until the government listens to us.”
Top: Lark in East Sheen is among the latest stores to join the Lark portfolio.
