S.F.'s Castro Safeway closing early because of 'out of control' shoplifting

[TexasTowelie]

Shoppers at the Safeway in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood will see a noticeable change to the store: It now closes at 9 p.m. because of what one supervisor described as “out of control” shoplifting.

Once open 24 hours a day, the Safeway store on Market and Church streets now has the earliest closing hours of all the Pleasanton supermarket chain’s San Francisco storefronts, most of which stay open until midnight.

In a series of tweets Friday afternoon, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, whose district includes the Market Street Safeway, said the store “is one of the few affordable grocery options for people living in and around the Castro.”

“A reduction in their operating hours will make it harder for working people to get groceries for themselves and their families, and will have a huge impact on the lives of the store’s employees whose hours will be cut,” Mandelman said.

Read more: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/S-F-s-Castro-Safeway-changes-opening-hours-due-16577967.php

[kimbutgar]

1. I stopped in there one day and saw two people shoplifting food

They ran in grabbed stuff and the security guard stood by and did nothing.

[Demobrat]

2. I've seen blatant shoplifting at the Safeway on Bay.

People just stuffing meat into backpacks and walking out. In the daytime, not at night.

[Sherman A1]

3. Damn shame, but there is a point where the shrink cannot be ignored

Dealt with it all through my decades in the grocery business and it really sucked to find empty packages stuffed behind other product, to see someone make it out the door with a load of steaks or booze. Just pisses you off when you work all day just to see the product stolen.

[MFM008]

4. Need better

Security. Ones that act. More people on floor.

[Demobrat]

7. They don't do anything because

theft under $950 is considered a misdemeanor, so the cops won’t bother to arrest anybody, if they even show up.

[msongs]

5. thus begins another food desert nt

[Grokenstein]

6. One or the other, folks.

Last edited Sun Oct 31, 2021, 07:17 PM - Edit history (1)

When I left San Francisco fifteen-plus years ago, the Board of Supervisors was loaded with pseduo-progressive fringe loons more concerned with making "statements" on international matters than dealing with local issues. Because of all these stories about store closures and in-your-face shoplifting, I presume that's still the case.

Security, as things stand now, cannot act to stop shoplifters. If you touch a criminal in SF, especially if you're not a cop, there are lawyers waiting to try to redistribute your "wealth" and the wealth of your employer.

I have personal experience with this. A few years ago an obscenity-screaming idiot attacked me at a bus stop while I was still dressed for work, and when I defended myself they tried (but failed) to have me arrested. Because I was wearing my work uniform--and had reported the incident to my employer, since the bus stop was right in front of my workplace--a few weeks later my employer told me lawyers were threatening to sue them on behalf of my attacker. Unfortunately for the lawyers, this threat opened access to the arrest report to me, complete with my attacker's rather unique name. A couple of minutes Googling revealed that my attacker has a lengthy history of pulling this shit, and the occasional peek at public records shows that they get arrested every two or three months on average for physical assault. Yet they somehow had legal representation that I can't even afford to fantasize about.

Throughout the Bay Area, criminals and violent individuals are left to their own devices because it's easier for the public to do nothing--and demand everyone else do nothing--than make tough choices. This is the result. Stores don't stay open in high-crime areas.

[Susan Calvin]

8. There's such a thing as going too far left, I guess.

I was in my prime before Reagan started all this garbage. At least all this garbage in the current era, it's happened over and over. I still remember coming back to San Diego from a business trip to San Francisco and crying because I thought I was coming back to Hicksville. Ah, the good old days. Anyway, I'm still looking for a good place to be before I croak, not that I deserve it, but, as Dr. Brown said, what the hell.

[Demobrat]

9. San Diego is not a good place to be?

I have lived in San Francisco for 30 years and loved my car-free life here, but if I could retire anywhere near the ocean in SD I would be there in a heartbeat.

[Susan Calvin]

10. No, San Diego is a wonderful place,

At least it was in the eighties which is the most recent I can vouch for. I mean I thought San Francisco was even better.