Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. has announced that it will close five Walgreens stores in San Francisco in response to the rise in organized retail crime.
Walgreens says it will bring recipes and workers from the closed stores to nearby locations. Recipes are posted in shops within a mile of the hotel.
“Retail theft at our San Francisco stores has continued to increase five times our chain average in recent months,” the company said in a statement.
“To combat this problem, we have increased our investment in security measures in stores across the city over this period to 46 times our chain average to create a safe environment.”
Target Corp. TGT, +1.50%, cut hours at its five San Francisco locations this summer due to the increase in theft.
See: Target cuts opening hours in San Francisco due to “alarming increase” in shoplifting
Video of a man stealing from one of the San Francisco Walgreens WBA, -3.64% locations and then going out of business on a bike went viral earlier this year.
Rachel Michelin, president and chief executive officer of the California Retailers Association, told MarketWatch this summer that organized retail crime has been an issue in the state for years.
Walgreens says it will close its stores between November 8th and 17th. Patients do not need to take any action to postpone their prescriptions.
Walgreens stock is up 27.4% over the year to date, while the benchmark S&P 500 SPX is up + 0.75% over the period, up 18%.
