A Giant grocery store in Southeast Washington, DC, has removed name brands like Advil, Colgate, and Tide from its shelves to better prevent a spike in theft.

Beyond the removal of brands, shoppers at Giant will also be required to show their receipts to security guards before exiting the store. Ira Kress, president of the chain, told the Washington Post that the store can no longer serve the community by keeping its stores at high risk.

“We want to continue to be able to serve the community, but we can’t do so at the level of significant loss or risk to our associates that we have today,” Kress said.

“I don’t want to do this — I’d like to sell [those products],” Kress later added. “But the reality is that Tide is not a profitable item in this store … In many instances people stock the product and within two hours it’s gone, so it’s not on the shelf anyway.”

Kress also said the store has seen theft rise “tenfold in the last five years” while violence has steadily increased, most especially at the store on Alabama Avenue in D.C.

“And we’ve invested a significant amount of money here, even more security here than any other store,” he said.

Source – Read More!