A FORMER Family Dollar employee has shared a video of disgruntled customers trying to enter the store and shoppers walking in with duffle bags to steal goods.
The overwhelming amount of theft at the Dutchtown location in St. Louis, Missouri, has forced the store to close in June.
A former employee at the Family Dollar location shared a video of multiple people taking items from the store and walking out past self-checkout.
“These types of incidents happened every single day,” Patrick Yant told local CBS affiliate KMOV.
In the video, a customer can be seen taking paper towels and walking out the back door while the alarm blares.
Another is filling a duffel bag with stolen goods and walking right out the front door.
Yant explained that theft is a constant occurrence at the location.
He also said that employees are powerless, only allowed to watch it happen and film it on camera.
“I think one of the hardest parts about it all is you can’t do anything about it, you actually have to watch it happen,” he told the outlet.
A person in the video can be seen holding the door shut as a customer attempts to aggressively push it open while another throws an object at the store.
“It’s really not anywhere I felt safe working,” Yant said.
A store manager said the location would be closing on June 22 “because of the security and the theft” and items will be discounted, according to the outlet.
There are other grocery stores, but it will lessen the affordable options in the area.
“It’s gonna hurt a lot of people,” Yant remarked.
Whenever a convenience store that sells food closes, it could affect residents, especially those in impoverished neighborhoods who don’t have cars, according to Dallas Adams, a resident with the Dutchtown Neighborhood Association.
MAJOR SHUTDOWNS
As of March, the Dollar Tree company had 16,774 stores across 48 states and five Canadian provinces.
However, in a recent earnings call, CEO and chairman Rick Dreiling revealed that 1,000 stores will be closing.
The company plans to shut down 600 Family Dollar Stores in the first half of the year while another 370 Family Dollar and 30 Dollar Tree stores will close over the next several years as store leases end.
At least 1,000 dollar stores to close, CEO says
Dollar Tree, the parent company of Family Dollar, revealed it would close around 1,000 stores in the coming years.
The company announced in March that it will shutter the stores after the discount retailer it acquired nearly a decade ago plummeted in value.
Dollar Tree plans to close about 600 Family Dollar stores in the first half of this year.
This will be followed by the shuttering of 370 Family Dollar and 30 Dollar Tree stores over the next several years.
The chain of discount variety stores has also indicated that sales are being affected by the cost-of-living crisis and inflation.
But USA Today added that Dollar Tree has also been rocked by reduced government benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
This has left families struggling to juggle finances, with as much as $250 less per month.
Dollar Tree had a profit of $452.5 million last year but has now reported a net loss of $1.71 billion in the fourth quarter.
The quarterly revenue failed to meet Wall Street expectations coming in at $8.46 billion compared to the estimated $8.66 billion.
It blames rising inflation and the retail theft epidemic as the reasons behind the massive shutdowns.
Despite the stores being a great place for inexpensive groceries and goods, the rising inflation has pushed shoppers to look elsewhere for better deals, according to CBS News.
Many locations have closed already including two in Illinois and 35 in Ohio.
The U.S. Sun has contacted Patrick Yant and the Family Dollar in Dutchtown for further comment.
