Shoplifting at city bodegas “is the worst I’ve seen it in my life,’’ a 20-year store owner said Sunday — the day after The Post reported some shops are so desperate to curb criminals that they’ve put locks and chains on their detergent.
“We’re losing a lot of money, and we have to pay employees only to check, to sit by the door and watch — otherwise, we’re going to lose everything,” said Barbara Trinidad, who owns a bodega in Manhattan and another in The Bronx, while attending a press conference Sunday by a bodega-owners association decrying the crime.
Other owners are also moving heavy equipment to block aisles to prevent thieves from fleeing, putting up PlexiGlas even around candy and planning to lock up their ice cream, the organization said.
Corner stores across the five boroughs experience “looting” daily, said United Bodegas of America President Fernando Mateo at Sunday’s gathering.
“You’ll notice on some of the aisles the more expensive products are chained up so that people don’t come in and steal them and sell them” Mateo said of Fordham Hill Food on Sedgwick Avenue in The Bronx, which hosted the press conference.
The bodega’s laundry detergent was decked with heavy chains during Matteo’s announcement. Detergent is the most expensive item on the shelves, and it’s easy to resell, he explained.
The store’s ice-cream refrigerator was empty “because of so much theft,” Mateo said — adding that the store’s owner planned to get a lock for the fridge in the future.
Locks on everyday items makes the entire bodega experience less seamless for customers, Mateo said.
Trinidad estimated losing 15 to 20% off her bottom line to theft.
Mateo blamed the scourge of bodega shoplifters on a lax criminal-justice system that allows thieves to get off with a desk-appearance ticket instead of being locked up.
“NYPD is doing their job, they come when you call them. They will make an arrest, but that person will usually get a desk-appearance ticket, and nothing will happen to him because the district attorneys and the judges are not willing to prosecute these type of crimes. And that is a problem,” Matteo explained.
“We hope that this will stop. The sooner the better. We don’t have a gauge. We are in a recession. People out there are desperate, and they’re looking for a quick buck. So what’s the fastest buck you can get and get away with it? Coming into a bodega and running out with whatever you can and selling it.”