Cranford Hospice Hastings store manager Kelly Aspinall with one of several signs placed around the store explaining the actions taken in response to thieves. Photo / Paul Taylor
Cranford Hospice Hastings store manager Kelly Aspinall with one of several signs placed around the store explaining the actions taken in response to thieves. Photo / Paul Taylor
Fed-up charity stores in Hastings are dealing with up to 40 shoplifters every week - and thieves as young as six.
Cranford Hospice Hastings store manager Kelly Aspinall estimates that about 40 shoplifting attempts are made in her store every week, or about seven to eight per day.
"You havea lot of family recruitment in here, you've got grandparents teaching grandchildren, and our youngest offender is six," Aspinall said.
She said that people caught stealing often told them that because the store gets the donated good for free, others should be able to take it.
Two shoplifters had already been caught at the Hastings Cranford Hospice store by 11am on the day Hawke's Bay Today spoke with Aspinall.
Aspinall said she intended to shift the focus from the act of stealing to how it impacts the 120 people, aged 20- to 98-years-old, volunteering at the store.
"I see all this stuff happening and I thought 'no, we need to take a stand'."
She had been working at the store for eight months when she decided to switch the store's approach to thieves, putting up warning signs six months ago.
The signs advise customers that the store has increased its number of cameras, employed the assistance of in-store loss prevention security officers, has closed their fitting rooms and has a network for sharing information on thieves through police, City Assist and other retailers in Hawke's Bay and nationwide.
"It has helped. I have certainly heard criticism also, the word 'confronting' [has] been used a lot."
She said she felt the approach had worked well and she constantly reassures her staff to give them the confidence to confront shoplifting head-on together when they see it.
"My volunteers are here for free, they don't deserve this and neither does our organisation with the palliative care that we give to the community."
Aspinall estimates about 40 thefts happen every week in the Cranford Hospice Hastings store alone. Photo / Paul Taylor
Hastings SPCA Op Shop manager Fiona Hislop also said shoplifting was an ongoing problem for the store.
"It happens every single day," Hislop said.
"Anything name brand, Adidas, Puma, Nike, all of that stuff is targeted."
She said the store had also been burgled more than once, most recently about three weeks ago when burglars climbed over their nearly 2.5-metre-high fences, which have barbed wire at the top.
Hislop said there were cameras all through the store and out back, as well as lights on from dusk to dawn out the back.
She said the SPCA advised her and the volunteers not to confront anybody caught shoplifting in store for their own safety.
"Our [volunteer] demographic, most people are in their 70s, we have up to 90-year-olds working here, so bottom line is we are absolutely not allowed to confront anybody because paramount is our safety."
She said City Assist were great for helping to deal with problem customers and warning about known shoplifters in the area.
