Giant Food is taking extreme measures to ensure safety and security as theft and violent crime continue to plague retailers in the nation's major cities.
Giant operates roughly 165 supermarket locations on the East Coast and has installed new measures, including restricting location entrance points, limiting self-checkout items, bolstering in-store security, and moving fewer high-value items onto its shelves, according to a report.
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Razor blades have also been placed in holders that alert staff with a sound when opened, the report noted.
Theft has increased "tenfold in the last five years," with violence growing "exponentially," President Ira Kress said.
Kress recognized these new measures may burden law-abiding customers, but he hopes they will allow Giant locations to remain open as retailers close across the country.
"The last thing I want to do is close stores," he said. "But I've got to be able to run them safely and profitably."
Nordstrom, Walgreens, and Whole Foods have all fallen victim to rising crime and retail theft and closed their doors in major cities, the report noted.
Fear due to increased shoplifting has also changed how retailers approach crime.
"We used to chase shoplifters," Kress said. "And you'd get the product back, and nobody would ever fight you."
"I didn't worry about somebody pulling a knife or gun on me [40] years ago."
In San Francisco, one Whole Foods reported more than 500 calls to emergency officials before closing its doors.
Employees at the location were continuously threatened by violent criminals, according to the report.
When faced with these criminals, employees were told they were prohibited from confronting them, the report noted.
"We're seeing the highest level of organized retail crime and theft ever," Senior Director of the Alvarez and Marsal's consumer and retail group Lakshman Lakshmanan said.
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Coupled with inflation, rising rent, and operating costs, crime is making it harder than ever before to keep stores open, according to Lakshmanan.
"It's laughable for any of our politicians — and I've offered to meet and talk with any of them — to be ignorant to what's going on in their communities, in their jurisdictions, with their constituents," Kress said. "And for politicians to blame businesses … for leaving is embarrassing."