CA City's 'Out Of Control' Shoplifting Leads To Another Closure

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Another grocery store is shortening its hours in San Francisco amid reports of rampant shoplifting.

The Safeway is just one location among dozens of other retailers that have been plagued by rising crime in the city. The news has only given fuel to an intensifying recall effort to oust San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin from office.

The Safeway in the city's Castro neighborhood is the most recent store to shorten its hours, pivoting to close at 9 p.m. The location — which used to keep its doors open for 24 hours a day — now has the earliest closing hours of any Safeway in San Francisco, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, whose district includes the Castro neighborhood, took to Twitter to respond to the closure.

"Shoplifting at the Church and Market Safeway is out of control, and I have met with Safeway to better understand the issues at this store," he said on Friday.

Mandelman said he planned to meet with the San Francisco Police Department and Boudin's office to address the reports of rampant theft.

"This store is one of few affordable grocery options for people living in and around the Castro," he said.

"A reduction in their operating hours will make it harder for working people to get groceries for themselves and their families, and will have a huge impact on the lives of the store’s employees whose hours will be cut."

In early October, five Walgreens locations also shuttered in San Francisco amid unrelenting reports of "organized retail crime," the company announced. Those stores were set to close in November.

Retail theft across the conglomerate's San Francisco stores has continued to rise up to five times the chain's average, Walgreens spokesperson Phil Caruso said in a statement, according to multiple reports.

"Organized retail crime continues to be a challenge facing retailers across San Francisco, and we are not immune to that," Caruso said.

READ MORE: 5 CA Walgreens To Close Amid 'Organized Retail Crime'

Walgreens employees were likely to be transferred to other stores, the company announced last month.

Ahsha Safai, a San Francisco supervisor representing District 11, expressed his disappointment last month in the closure of the Walgreens on Mission Street.

"I am completely devastated by this news — this Walgreens is less than a mile from seven schools and has been a staple for seniors, families and children for decades," he said. "This closure will significantly impact this community.

"The City needs to act with a sense of urgency to reduce and deter the number of incidents of commercial retail theft," he said.

Reports and video posted to social media of brazen shoplifting in the city have stirred outrage in recent months, igniting an effort to recall Boudin, a Democrat, who will likely face a recall election next year.

"We all agree that we need real criminal justice reform and police accountability now," Mary Jung and Andrea Shorter of the SF Safer Without Boudin campaign wrote in official recall documents filed with the city. "Chesa Boudin isn't delivering either priority — and since he took office, burglaries, car break-ins, homicides and overdose-related deaths are at a crisis level. Boudin is not keeping San Francisco safe."

Ahead of the Oct. 25 submission deadline, the campaigners have submitted more than 83,000 signatures, about 32,000 more than what is required to land the initiative on the ballot as early as June, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Once election officials certify the signatures, voters will decide Boudin's fate next year. If he's recalled, Mayor London Breed would then select a replacement.

The campaign, which was approved for circulation in March, comes on the heels of a gubernatorial recall effort to push Gov. Gavin Newsom from office, an effort he handily defeated last month.

Boudin is one of several progressive district attorneys elected in Democratic cities across the nation who have vowed to unwind tough on crime standards.

Just elected last year, the first term district attorney placed a cap on sentencing enhancements for those incarcerated in connection with gang activity. He also became the first district attorney in the U.S. to do away with cash bail.

"For years I’ve been fighting to end this discriminatory and unsafe approach to pretrial detention," Boudin said in a statement. "From this point forward, pretrial detention will be based on public safety, not on wealth."

If a recall election to pull him from his seat fails, the next election to replace him rolls around in 2024.

Mayor London Breed and Police Chief Bill Scott made a joint announcement during the summer to dedicate more police, bolster coordinations and develop easier says to report thieves.

"We care about criminal justice reform. We care about second chances. We care about making sure that people are not wrongly accused," Breed said. "But don't take our kindness for weakness, our compassion for weakness."

Over the summer, shoplifters donning masks carried armfuls of designer handbags as they ran out of a downtown Neiman Marcus department store and into getaway cars.

In June, a man wearing a mask was caught on video at a Walgreens as he placed stolen goods into a trash bag before he left the store on his bicycle.

Walgreens company also closed another location near the same area last year after an uptick in crime, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

That store lost $1,000 in stolen merchandise every day, the newspaper reported.

In June, the company told ABC7 that theft in their San Francisco stores was four times the average of their stores across the country. The stores also spends 35 times more on security guards in the Bay Area city compared with the rest of its locations.

Target locations in San Francisco were also forced to trim hours of operation and bolster security in response to "alarming" crime rates over the summer.

Other retailers in San Francisco have also reported a rise in security issues, including H&M, Gap and Marshalls, Brian Harper-Tibaldo, a spokesperson for Target, previously told Patch.

"Target is engaging local law enforcement, elected officials and community partners to address our concerns," Harper-Tibaldo said. "With the safety of our guests, team members and communities as our top priority, we've temporarily reduced our operating hours in five San Francisco stores."

SEE MORE: Some CA Target Stores Close Early Amid 'Alarming' Rise In Theft