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A grocery store in the San Francisco Bay Area has installed metal emergency gates at its entrance to deter rampant shoplifting.
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A Safeway in Vallejo has also locked one of its entrances, according to KPIX reporter Betty Yu, who tweeted a picture of the security guard sounding an alarm if a shoplifter tries to exit the store.
The supermarket chain location, owned by Albertsons Companies, joins other San Francisco-area locations that have taken similar action in recent years amid rising theft in the city.
SAN FRANCISCO SAFEWAY VALUES BARRIERS TO RESTRICT SHOPPIFTING
The Bay Area, where property crime has increased 10.4% since last year, is also seeing a surge in robberies, in which shoplifters armed with bats and other weapons make off with thousands of items from luxury stores.
The gates are part of “long-planned safety improvements” for the store, a Safeway spokesman told FOX Business.
“Like other local businesses, we are working to curb escalating theft so we can ensure the well-being of our employees and create a welcoming environment for our customers. These long-planned security improvements have been implemented with these goals in mind,” the company said.
San Francisco police are secretly patrolling retail stores and pharmacies to curb rampant shoplifting
Safeway grocery store corporate logo above store entrance. (Don & Melinda Crawford/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Last fall, the San Francisco Police Chief and Democratic Mayor London Breed said they would combat rampant shoplifting in the city by deploying more police forces and improving coordination to make it easier to report theft.
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An aerial view of the San Francisco skyline, October 28, 2021. (Portal/Carlos Barria / Portal photos)
Pharmacies like Walgreens have closed in response to rising theft, which Breed says is detrimental to those who rely on such facilities.
FOX Business’ Daniella Genovese contributed to this report.