Macy’s will be closing one of its most iconic locations, its 77-year old store in Union Square, San Francisco, and employees are placing the blame at the rampant shoplifting.
While many are saddened by the forthcoming closure of the historic department store, known for its vibrant Christmas decorations every year, San Francisco Mayor London Breed argued to ABC7 it has nothing to do with local crime.
"We've seen this past holiday season and the end of the year, between November 20 and end of the year, we've seen a significant decline in crime. We know this has nothing to do with that decision, this is part of a larger decision that Macy's has made" she said.
However, store employees told a local news outlet that isn't the case.
"It happens every day," employee Steve Dalisay told the San Francisco Standard. Dalisay noted that blazers, wallets and boxer briefs are the goods most frequently stolen from his department, adding that an average of 10 wallets and 20 briefs were stolen every day.
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Dalisay, who worked at the store for decades after moving to America from the Philippines in the 1990’s, blamed the mayor and Proposition 47. In 2014, California voters approved Proposition 47 which downgraded certain non-violent crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. Dalisay wants the city to crackdown and prosecute the criminals that are robbing stores.
"I think there just needs to be leadership," Dalisay told the local news outlet. "The mayor just needs to say we won’t tolerate this in the city."
Another employee from another department argued, "It’s the theft, and that people aren’t coming in," adding further that "Basically, the same thing that happened to the Nordstrom, is happening to us."
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Another employee argued that shoplifters target specific brands and tend to be in two categories, "drug users going after specific items for fences or teens entering the store in teams on brazen shoplifting blitzes."
"I’m not in charge of making the estimates of how much we lose in a day, but last year we were told the losses were in the millions," the employee claimed.
"It’s a big thing," he added. "What we have learned is a lot of drug users have deals with the fencers. They’ll give the drug users a list of stuff from the store, and they’ll go try to execute the list."
The local news outlet quoted another employee who said "I’d say I see at least 20 [thefts] a day," and speculated, "I think they just take anything they can resell."
When contacted by Fox News Digital, a Macy's representative wrote, "Our new strategy is designed to create a more modern Macy’s, Inc. and enhance the customer experience. We intend to close approximately 150 Macy’s stores while further investing in our 350 go-forward fleet over the next three years. A final decision on specific locations has yet to be made."
