Walgreens shutting additional 5 stores in San Francisco due to organized crime in the city

Walgreens will be closing five more stores in San Francisco, and this move was due to thefts in the city. The go-to pharmacy and Health & Wellness store said that brazen shoplifting incidence has been a problem, and this has resulted in big losses for the company.

Walgreens said on Tuesday, Oct. 12, that the organized crime plaguing the territory is its main problem. The firm said that organized retail crime is ongoing, so it continues to be a challenge for most retailers in the area, and even major establishments like them are not immune to it.

“Due to ongoing organized retail crime, we have made the difficult decision to close five stores across San Francisco,” the company’s spokesperson told FOX Business. “Each store will transfer prescriptions to a nearby Walgreens location within a mile radius and we expect to place the stores’ team members in other nearby locations.”

The spokesperson added that in the past few months, the incidence of retail theft in Walgreens’ stores in San Francisco continued to increase up to five times on average. He further explained that in an effort to provide a safe environment to customers and the staff, the company took measures to stop the problem by investing in added security for the stores, but the problem still persisted.

It was reported that critics are blaming a California referendum that was voted and passed in 2014. Because of this, the theft of property has been downgraded to a simple misdemeanor if the value involved is $950 and below. In the course of the summer, the California Retailers Association stated that the cities - San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Sacramento - have some of the highest records for organized retail crime in the country.

It was mentioned that since the start of 2019, Walgreens closed down at least 10 of its outlet stores in the city. At any rate, San Francisco Gate reported that the five Walgreens stores facing shut down next month in San Francisco are the ones at 2550 Ocean Ave. (Nov. 8), 4645 Mission St. (Nov. 11), 745 Clement St. (Nov. 15), 300 Gough St. (Nov. 15), and 3400 Cesar Chavez St. will close on Nov. 17.