Winona Ryder listens to arguments in the sentencing phase of her shoplifting trial in 2002. Photo / Getty Images
Winona Ryder listens to arguments in the sentencing phase of her shoplifting trial in 2002. Photo / Getty Images
A surprising number of wealthy customers at upmarket New York stores are pinching things they don't even want or need - like foundation in the wrong shade or a pre-used mascara tester - just for the thrill of it, staff say.
The big-spending customers feel entitled to help themselves tosmaller items and accessories because of how much they pay for big-ticket items, a worker at makeup giant Sephora told the New York Post.
"They'd pay for one of the things they were still holding but drop something extra in their shopping bag, like their own version of a free gift.
"It becomes a cat-and-mouse game: What are you going to see me take today?" said the former employee, who says she once found a mum stashing cosmetics in an US$800 stroller.
An ex-employee at clothing and accessory store Anthropologie said customers "would spend insane amounts and at the same time steal a few items because they felt that given they had spent so much money, they were entitled to freebies."
A former manager at department store Macy's said the store was wary of confronting its well-off thieves. "It could be a producer, a celebrity, some big-time lawyer," she said. "So you don't want to attack them or wrongly accuse them."
One of Sephora's loss prevention strategies is to 'shame' their shoplifting customers with excellent customer service. "If I saw you take a lipstick and drop it into your purse, I would walk up to you about two minutes after you did that and say, 'I saw you looking at that lipstick earlier, let me find a really great lip liner to go with that lipstick,'" the former employee told the Post.
A number of high-profile Hollywood stars have been caught shoplifting in the past - Winona Ryder was famously charged for stealing clothes and handbags in 2001, while Lindsay Lohan pleaded "no contest" for stealing an expensive necklace in 2011.
