Atlantic Superstore defends use of plexiglass to prevent ‘organized crime.’ Shoppers unconvinced
Global News
New measures aimed at preventing shoplifting at Loblaws-owned Atlantic Superstore locations are stirring debate in the Halifax area.
New measures aimed at preventing shoplifting at Loblaws-owned Atlantic Superstore locations are stirring debate in the Halifax area.
The grocery chain has been rolling out plexiglass barriers in stores — around the perimeter and the self-checkout areas — to help cut down on what it calls “organized crime.”
However, the additional anti-theft measures have some left questioning the customer impact.
“All I see right now is an industry that’s protecting itself without really trying to understand the client’s experience,” said Sylvain Charlebois, the director of Dalhousie University Agri-Food Analytics Lab.
He argues grocers are compromising the shopping experience for the sake of theft prevention, but points out it’s also difficult to quantify the shoplifting losses.
“They’ve never actually said, ‘This is how much money we’re losing due to loss prevention or due to theft,'” he said.
Global News spoke to several shoppers outside a Halifax store, whose reactions ranged from “it’s fine,” to asking “was that really necessary?”
All this comes as consumers across the country speak out against high grocery prices and rising company profits.