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The Gristedes supermarket chain is beefing up its security in the wake of this week’s caught-on-camera “hamburglar” heist of steaks from a rival Trader Joe’s store.
“We are hiring more and more security. We are hiring a lot of retired cops,” Gristedes owner John Catsimatidis said during a news conference at his store in Manhattan’s Murray Hill neighborhood Thursday.
“And the other thing we’re doing is we’re putting less in the meat cases. In other words, we replenish more often.”
Catsimatidis said shoplifting incidents at his stores have spiked between 40 and 50 percent recently, WABC-TV said. He also blamed bail reform for an increase in crime in the city, according to the station.
The announcement came two days after The Post published an exclusive video of a man allegedly swiping 10 packages of meat from the Trader Joe’s store in the East Village on Tuesday morning.
At a Gristedes store in Greenwich Village, workers said shoplifting has become a major problem since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, with one saying it’s “gotten worse every day.”
The worker complained that thieves who are busted are back out on the streets too soon.
“They’re out on the streets, not even staying in jail, because of bail reform,” the worker said.
Another employee said, “They won’t even prosecute them because of bail reform laws.”
“That’s why the city is out of hand,” the worker said.
“We try to stock the shelves as light as possible. This is getting crazy.”
Catsimatidis did not respond to a request for comment from the Post.
On Wednesday, the Rev. Al Sharpton publicly called on Mayor Eric Adams to crack down on retail thefts, complaining on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” about the extreme measures that some merchants have taken to deter crooks.
“You go into a local pharmacy, a Duane Reade or Rite Aid, you got to get some help to assist you,” the famed civil-rights activist said.
“They have the little button, they get the buzzer and the guy comes over and unlocks your toothpaste. I mean we are talking about basic stuff here.”
During a Thursday visit to a Walgreens drug store near Manhattan’s Herald Square, The Post found more than two dozen types of items locked up, including laundry detergent, dishwashing liquid, mothballs, candy bars and packages of nuts.
Additional reporting by Khristina Narizhnaya
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