Businesses are introducing innovative anti-theft measures such as shoplifting, the rise of organized crime.

Retail theft has skyrocketed over the past few years, creating multi-billion dollar problems for retailers and forcing companies to take drastic action to protect against lost profits.

Numerous pharmacies, grocery stores and other retailers have reduced their store hours or been forced to close permanently as keeping goods locked up has become commonplace to protect against shoplifters and robbers.

“It’s connected to all the shoplifting,” a Walgreens Fox Business clerk said last month about why the ice cream freezers were secured with chains and locks.

As the National Retail Federation reported last month, crime has hit retailers across the country hard, costing them an estimated $94.5 billion. Businesses large and small alike have been affected, with Target reporting a 50 percent increase in store theft last year, resulting in a whopping $400 million in losses.

A new report published by DealAid, which was provided by Fox News Digital, found that more than 80% of retailers across the country experienced an increase in theft-related violence in the past year. According to the report, about 56% of small retailers experienced theft in the past year, and 46% of small businesses were forced to raise prices due to shoplifting losses.

In addition to installing more private security measures such as cameras, security guards and retail loss prevention teams, some stores are adopting more high-tech measures to protect their merchandise.

Home repair chain Lowe’s has announced it is cracking down on power tool theft with a new process that will render items virtually unusable once stolen. A new initiative called Project Unlock will use RFID chips and scanners to activate power tools when they are purchased.

If the power tool is stolen and not activated when leaving, it will not turn on.

“Over the past few years, thefts, mostly by organized groups, have increased across the retail industry,” says a December 2022 Lowe’s video announcing the initiative. “The end result was a closed store that punishes shoppers.”

“We think there are better ways to curb theft than by blocking products.”

Home Depot launched a similar initiative last year to protect its power tools.

But for many other retailers, lockdowns remain the primary response to the surge in crime, especially in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.

“Everyone is locked up. It’s a siege mentality,” Indyme CEO Joe Budano told Forbes last year. Indyme is a San Diego-based company that sells security devices like help buttons that customers press when they need an employee to get something out of a locked closet, and according to Budano, the business grew 40% last year. .

In recent months, shoppers at some pharmacies and large stores have seen everything from candy to mascara and nasal spray locked up, to disappointment.

“I’ve always had a hard time finding an employee who could open them,” Arizona’s Roger Evans told Insider last month about why he stopped shopping at Walgreens and CVS to buy razors. “Pharmacy is constantly understaffed.”

While security helps prevent theft, it risks losing customers due to extra waiting time for a store clerk to come and open a cabinet or merchandise, critics say. Budano estimates that retailers typically see a 15% to 25% drop in sales due to shoppers refusing to buy a blocked item, choosing instead to shop online or in another store.

Some small shops selling high-end items such as jewelry have moved to work by appointment only.

Earlier this month, a jewelry store in New York City was attacked by masked thieves who stole up to $2 million worth of gemstones in less than one minute.

The jewelry store in Brooklyn will remain open by appointment only until additional security measures are in place. It’s a tactic that Madison Avenue stores on the Upper East Side used last year to combat daytime shoplifting, the New York Post reported in April.

Small business owners who don’t have national network funds are getting even more creative to protect their inventory.

A bar owner in Houston, Texas, told the Fox News program “Fox & Friends” this month that he spent the night at his restaurant to protect himself from burglaries.

“This is a major issue for our city right now,” Cobo BBQ owner Raul Jacobo told co-host Carly Shimkus. “If I’m upset… about these burglaries, I can just imagine how families feel like they’ve actually lost loved ones because some of the perpetrators have been put back on the street.”

“This is just a very unfortunate situation… everywhere… we have no choice but to sleep in our establishments to protect what is ours,” he added.

In Philadelphia, a gas station owner has hired private security guards who wear Kevlar vests and are armed with AR-15 rifles or shotguns to protect the establishment.

Shoplifting and organized retail shoplifting probably won’t disappear from stores this year, experts say.

A study published by DealAid shows that organized retail crime increased by 26.5% last year, but the vast majority of retailers, about 68%, do not have departments dedicated to preventing organized retail crimes such as theft.