Popular retail chain Dollar General estimates that it will lose about $100 million due to retail theft. The high loss of stolen merchandise is not exclusive to the chain and other major businesses are suffering from a spike in organized theft.
The high level of anticipated loss came from a second-quarter report from Dollar General Chief Financial Officer Kelly Dilts. The CFO reported that the theft “environment has continued to worsen.”
She described the stolen merchandise under the industry moniker “shrink.”
“We now expect approximately $100 million of additional shrink headwind since last quarter’s call,” Dilts said.
The company announced that its profit margin had declined, including specifically due to increased theft levels.
The company’s CFO stated that it was working to “reduce these levels through multiple targeted actions.”
The increase in organized retail theft is part of a wider spike in crime that emerged in 2020. Dramatic news and surveillance video shows groups of thieves stealing from retail locations.
The increase in crime has especially affected a number of cities run by Democratic Party administrations, including San Francisco, Portland, Los Angeles and Oakland.
San Francisco has been especially hard hit. The Bay Area city has seen a number of businesses close in the last year, often citing issues such as theft. The city also suffers from persistently high levels of drug addiction, homelessness and quality of life issues.
This past week saw another business close in the city. The restaurant Gracias Madre closed after more than a decade in the city.
Must watch: @cvpayne breaks down how a massive spike in retail theft in Democrat-run cities is costing businesses billions of dollars.
Some companies are citing retail theft as a “serious issue” in their earnings report for the first time in decades. pic.twitter.com/da6UOisSIE
— GOP (@GOP) August 23, 2023
Another restaurant, the Cafe International, closed temporarily due to crime. Its owner posted on social media the experience of facing daily “shoplifting, extortion coupled with a propensity of violence, back to back break-ins and thousands of dollars in debt for property damages.”
She cited issues in the city, calling it “sinking in a sea of lawlessness.”
The owner stated that business owners were “currently on our own.”
The popular retailer Nordstrom announced that it would be closing its locations in the city.
