N.S. news: Stores concerned about holiday shoplifting [Video]

Holiday shopping has arrived and with it comes holiday shoplifting. According to Sue Uteck, executive director of Spring Garden Area Business Association, they are taking precautions as holiday shopping picks up.

“We’re going to start publishing some pictures of repeat offenders that would be out in the public and we are going to send it around to our merchants. We’ve kind of had enough, and I know the downtown and all retail areas have had enough,” says Uteck.

It’s a problem that doesn’t seem to be improving.

According to a Statistics Canada report earlier in the year, Nova Scotia has the highest shoplifting rates among Canada’s provinces. Halifax Regional Police says those numbers rise during the holiday season.

The Retail Council of Canada says retail theft has been on the rise since the pandemic.

“Since the pandemic the numbers have gone through the roof, to put it mildly, when it comes to retail theft,” says Jim Cormier, Retail Council of Canada Atlantic director.

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