Cork retail group says rise in shoplifting having ‘debilitating effect’ on staff

Retailers have warned that the levels of "crime, violence and anti-social behaviour towards staff" are at an all-time high.

The comments came from a representative of Musgraves, who appeared before the Dáil today to discuss the explosion of shoplifting, anti-social behaviour and both verbal and physical abuse its staff have been subject to recently.

Representatives from the Cork-based Musgrave Group, which owns Supervalu, Centra and Daybreak were first to speak in the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment this morning. 

They were joined by the Retail Grocery Dairy and Allied Traders Association (RGData), and representatives from Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association (CSNA) for engagement on the issue of shoplifting and how it is affecting retailers.

1,000 issues a week going unreported 

In its opening statement, a representative for Musgraves pointed out that they employ more than 41,000 people across more than 1,000 stores, warehouses and offices, and said that across this network, there could be over 1,000 issues a week that mainly go unreported.

“Retailers are experiencing three types of crime – organised gangs; opportunistic criminals and an alarming rise in underage youths who get a kick out of intimidating staff and who are totally lacking in fear given there are little or no repercussions for their actions.

“Shoplifting sounds like an innocuous word, what harm can it do, but it is not a victimless crime," the representative continued, explaining: “retail is a low margin business and stock walking out the door daily has a serious impact on a retailer’s profit for the week – money that pays the wages, pays the taxes and keeps the lights on."

They also discussed the impact on staff of being verbally abused, threatened and intimidated, saying that “nobody should come to work and feel threatened and unsafe while doing an honest day’s work - for the individuals themselves this is terrifying.” 

Concerns for staff

They are concerned for the safety and wellbeing of their staff, and are worried that this will have an impact on staff retention. 

"We talk to retailers every day who tell us about an upsurge in theft and anti-social behaviour and the debilitating effect it is having on both themselves and their staff both emotionally and physically."

They called for the Government to step up its efforts to tackle this issue so that they can keep their staff and customers safe, suggesting that the recruitment of more gardaí for frontline policing duties would be welcomed.

“However, there is a need for a responsive, resourced, and dedicated operation by gardaí to tackle assaults on retail workers and theft from shops specifically.”