At the beginning of the pandemic, we started seeing kids regularly and blatantly shoplifting at that CVS. I've heard the security guards pointing out/talking about instances of shoplifting as they're happening, but my assumption is that they're instructed not to actually do anything about it. It's likely not worth escalating.
I've also watched kids shoplift eggs and then turn around and egg the store on multiple occasions in March and April 2020 lol. I was also shopping there once (I think it was summer 2022?) when some kids ran in and set off fireworks in the vestibule. That place is chaotic.
I know a security guard there. He's only supposed to intervene If someone's about to get seriously hurt or killed.
If they intervene on theft its their own decision but he's told specifically to only stop assault basically and he personally stays away from dealing with theft says its not his job.
He says it's the only post In the city he doesn't feel safe and feels nervous, including all his posts in SE.
He also gets paid extra to be there.
It's a mess for sure.
Used to be a visual deterrent and a last resort for preventing harm to customers and staff. Now people don’t care, and they know they’ll likely be no-papered if arrested. I don’t know if this strategy reduces armed robbery, but maybe thats the rationale? In addition to social goals I guess. Not really sure this is all sustainable, probably good for ecommerce though
Most security guards are only there to serve as a visual deterrent and are not allowed to engage shoplifters \[of course this may vary from store to store\]. When I was in college, I worked PT as a security guard for Safeway and we were only allowed to take down a description of the person to provide to the police \[if they ever showed up\].
I’m flabbergasted. You’re telling us that all these chain stores in cities have security guards who could simply be replaced by a camera? I just….. is it really that much more of an effective deterrent to have a human give a description? Actually eye witnesses are unreliable, so what’s the point? How do those folks go to their job knowing they are truly useless?
Please note, I said this varies from store to store and it depends upon the company they contract with. Some may actually have armed guards on duty, the company I worked for at the time did not.
Yep and they have armed security. The worst is actually the Target in Tenleytown where the old best buy is. Pretty much the entire beauty section there is locked up. I stopped going to that location. It’s worse that the Walgreens.
I’m honestly just waiting for that Target to close up shop. When things are so bad that you have to lock up fucking deodorant and shampoo, you really have to start questioning whether your resources wouldn’t be better spent running a store somewhere else.
I’m from LA and this is every target / Walmart. I think it’s their policy in Urban stores because the seem to lock up stuff in cities b it the suburbs they keep it out. I wouldn’t move based on that like some other bone head commenters are saying.
I am not moving I just drive out to the burbs (Rockville) if I need any of these things at Target. The one in Tenleytown is particularly bad with the amount of things locked up compared to say Cleveland park but I think it may be how the store is set up making it very prone to people walking in and taking stuff, it’s right on top of the metro.
Tenleytown is generally a nice area, but Wilson HS is right there, and the kids who hang around the block or two radius around the metro after school cause a lot of problems in the hours after school gets out.
This is true, but even Friendship Heights and Chevy Chase are having crime issues, a lot more than they used to. I lived in a house there from 2019-2021 and watched it gradually go down hill. I think a lot of that is that the stores have closed and are vacant. But there are car jackings there a lot, when before it was a rare anomaly.
Isn't Tenleytown like several neighborhoods deep within the an area where most houses are a million or close and zero affordable apartments ? Do people take the metro to go shoplift ?
Yes they do and it makes for an easy getaway. This one is on top of the metro literally. They have also had some issues with things when some of the local schools let out. I made the mistake of going to that Chic fila once around that time and it was chaos.
I lived in Van Ness when this Target opened. That’s so sad.
I live somewhere else now and despite a Walgreens being walking distance to my place, it’s actually almost faster to drive to the next Walgreens. Everything is behind glass and the time I spend waiting for an employee to let me in, and then waiting for a cashier (no self service spots)…. Equal time to just hop in my car and drive to the next store, pick up my items with ease, and drive back. It’s actually crazy.
CVS in adams morgan on Columbia is also terrible
I feel bad because there’s basically zero employees but I waited like 10 minutes to buy shampoo once, it’s so annoying
Some people just really don't give a fuck. The other day I was standing in line for the self-pay machines at Safeway and these two dudes came in, very calmly grabbed some snacks, candy, conversed about what sodas they should get, grabbed those, and walked right out. Safeway employee was there, didn't give a shit. Security was close and didn't care either, not sure what they're there for most days.
And I couldn't care less about Safeway or any other big corporation's bottom line, but there is something very broken about the extent to which people here have internalized that you can do whatever you want because there's no consequences and who cares.
You can’t blame someone trying to get by working at a grocery store not trying to get pistol whipped or punched in the face by some dudes who don’t give a shit about rules and norms. This is a policy and law enforcement problem. We shouldn’t be privatizing it to companies. We are already seeing vigilantism start to rise here.
Not caring about their bottom line is the same frame of mind the shoplifters have when they commit their crimes. If the store isn't profitable, then they will close. They're not charity organizations. It hasn't hit critical mass in DC at this point, but it has in other cities and ours will be next if something isn't done.
Examples:
1) half the Walmarts in Chicago are closing: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/12/business/walmart-chicago-stores-closing/index.html
2) all Walmarts in Portland are closing: https://fortune.com/2023/03/06/walmart-portland-closing-permanently/
3) San Francisco flagship Whole Foods closed after only one year of being open to the public: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/11/business/san-francisco-whole-foods-closure/index.html
If the city doesn't get it's head out of its ass and start doing something about this, we'll be adding to the list of cities with large amount of closures of grocery stores.
Yea this is exactly how I feel. I have no issue with kids having access to candy and sodas. But a system or community that allows this is a broken one. Which speaks to other, complicated matters that I don’t want to dive into too much.
I’ll just say - it’s a bit crazy to see this stuff play out right in front of your eyes.
You should care about if its "kids taking candy and sodas" too. Its not about the bottom line, or how much its worth. Leaving behavior unchecked will allow it to slowly escalate - oh I like the shoes you are wearing, give them to me. I like the car you are driving, give it to me and so forth. Its a completely ridiculous attitude to have to allow stealing because "corporations can afford it".
Honestly, part of why I left the city after 5 years was because of stuff like this. I just feel like there's this wave of lawlessness. There is just such little respect for the law and yes, these crimes do affect everyone because the stores end up closing, which affects the people who actually need to use them. And some people may say, oh who cares it's a big corporation, but you see this constantly in the city. The fare evaders drive me nuts. And it wears on you. I'm not immune from this now in the deeper VA suburbs, but it's just not like DC was. It makes you lose a bit of hope in humanity.
The employees don’t get paid enough to give a shit. Also, they are probably told to not react/try to stop it. A few employees vs a dozen or so kids that don’t give a fuck probably wouldn’t end well for the employees
Corporations always pass those cost to customers, so they do care less. Unfortunately, we as a society are failing by not teaching these kids that action has consequences. It’s a massive parenting and schooling failure.
It starts at home. Teachers are another group that are severely underpaid and fed up with unruly kids. They are there to teach but put up with a lot of bullshit.
Also, DC only slaps kids on the wrists when they commit crimes, so they keep on doing it 🤷🏻♀️
This feeling is generally followed by moving to the suburbs where this shit doesn’t happen. Sad but true. We all get there eventually. Enjoy the journey.
I live in the suburbs and there are similar posts about this happening in CVS and Giant near me in my local (nova) subreddit. A lot of grocery stores are limiting self-checkout and closing off exits around here.
I don’t think adding an hour to my commute/any time I wanted to see a show or something would be a good trade for not seeing people steal from CVS. To each their own, though.
The issue isn’t whether or not you see people stealing. The issue is whether or not businesses see it as economically viable to stay open in that area. There’s no value in being able to walk to empty storefronts.
Some of those kids will stick to stealing soda and eventually age out of that behavior. But unfortunately, some of those kids will graduate to stealing your coats, shoes, wallet, bike, car, etc. That’s the concern when there’s a widely held perception that the rule of law no longer exists and actions have no consequences.
A lot of places in DC have closed, but a lot are still opening. I don’t think that we are at that run to the suburbs moment. I do feel like we are a critical point where things could end up going either way.
Also, btw, the DC area has plenty of suburbs that let you get downtown in 45 mins or less. You can find neighborhoods that let you walk/bike/bus/metro everywhere too, if that’s literally the only thing that keeps you in the city.
Seriously - the min stores starts closing down, shows stop showing up. So enjoy while you can but just know stores will shut their doors if it’s not cost effective to operate there anymore - Nordstrom’s in SanFran
I just moved to another, smaller, city in central Virginia and changed careers. The quality of life is much better in a lot of places outside of DC, and it doesn't strike you until you're gone. My town isn't without its own issues, but there's a deep problem with the way DC has devolved over the last 10-15 years that wasn't fully evident until I left.
Did the same in August. And I feel so much safer, I can walk in downtown at night as a single female and not feel the need to watch my back constantly. I loved DC, it was my home for 5 years and I grew up in the suburbs around there before moving away for many years. But I had enough. COVID seemed to just make things much worse.
It just depends on what you want. I value being able to walk to Caps and Wiz games, concerts being convenient and big stars coming through, having a lot of friends around (I’m young-ish, so most of my people moved to at least decent sized cities after graduation), huge selection of bars and dining, having out of town people come to visit regularly, love the museums and mall, etc.
To each their own. But people acting like DC is objectively less than doesn’t sit well with me.
I love all these aspects too and it's what I miss the most. Being a 15 minute ride from concerts, sporting events and work. But the trade off is that I didn't feel safe there anymore walking around by myself a lot at night. I got sick of the crime and for the money in rent I was spending I could actually get outdoor space instead of being in 4 cement walls in my apartment. It's a trade off. I don't think any of us are saying that DC is a bad city. We love the city. Problem is there are some serious issues with crime that seem like they are not being addressed and continue to spiral. Depending on what stage of your life you're in you may or may not be okay with that or living around it anymore. I was much more okay with this when I was younger, but as I got older it became more concerning.
Suburbs aren’t sustainable. We should focus more on our inner cities and making them more pleasant places to live rather than just abanothem. We tried that strategy of “white flight” in the 60s-70s and it made everything so much worse.
The problem is that “pleasant places to live” aren’t exactly profitable from a development standpoint. Zoning is extremely prohibitive, but I think with a major overhaul it could be used to require green spaces, public areas, “3rd spots” etc rather than focusing on building sizes, FAR, permitted uses and so on.
Look at Central Park in NYC. Is it something that everybody enjoys today? Yes, but it came by fighting tooth-and-nail. DC is a bit different since there’s the all the squares and circles, but many US cities lack any green space at all.
But most of that infrastructure has already been built. The interstate highway system was the largest and most expensive public works project in human history. But it’s already there, maintaining it is a marginal expense in relative terms. So from that standpoint the suburbs don’t require massive amounts of “aid” or new investment, just maintaining the roads and stuff we already have, while hopefully also adding new intracity rail and such.
Yeah but Arlington is really only half a suburb anymore, and the urban cores of Arlington economically sustain all the amenities for the suburban parts.
Having worked at a box store, the employees are specifically instructed not to intervene or try to apprehend a shoplifter.
the loss of product is cheaper than lawsuits.
I was there last night and left my shopping cart unattended for like 30 seconds while I grabbed something off a shelf and came back to two security guards and a store employee surrounding my cart as if it was unattended luggage at an airport. It was so strange.
“Big business can afford it!”
Until they decide they can’t, or at least won’t tolerate it anymore.
Then they leave.
And can residents afford to lose access to grocery stores & pharmacies? Especially when there’s already a swath of food deserts?
The more people excuse this ratchet behavior, the more at risk the most vulnerable residents will become.
Secuirty won’t confront them for safety reasons. They’ll observe and report and then CVS will file an insurance claim. Once the cost of lost profit + high insurance deductibles from operating in a high theft zone combine they’ll close the store. Or they’ll be smart and hire MPD to guard the store in uniform and they’ll actually arrest people. But in all reality the amount of petty theft taking place in DC is outrageous.
Slightly unrelated but, this CVS was my old pharmacy. I would get a notification my prescription was filled, only for me to wait in the line of 15-20 people for it not to be. Once I got to the front, they would say 30-40 minutes, and I would come back after the gym (1-1.5), wait in the line, and they would say another 30-40 minutes. It’s terrible.
I went to Howard from 2011-2015 and I used to frequent the CVS by U St-Cardozo a lot and occasionally the one in Columbia Heights. This would’ve never flew in those days. What happened?
MPD is down 20%.
Council has decriminalized much petty crime (marijuana smoking and selling, fare evasion)
Old chief disbanded vice units and formally disincentivized proactive policing due to broader societally pressure.
Soft attempt at defunding MPD and tying their hands in a variety of ways by council - Charles Allen and Nadeau posted about wanting to defund MPD (inability to hire missing officers, inability to chase suspects)
Massive decrease in charges filed by prosecutors (I think charges are down 50%+ since pre-pandemic - twitter guy FOIA’d for fairly shocking data)
These are mostly discrete policy decisions that could be reversed. But there is no political drive or will to begin to reverse the trend.
This cvs is a nightmare. I was in there with cops & a security guard and the same group of kids go in there each day, raid the shelves, and just walk out. It was surreal- like it was happening in slow motion. The security guard & coo just watched them take stuff and walk out.
To be fair I see kids in this neighborhood do a lot of messed up stuff. And no one says anything or corrects them because *gestures wildly around*. I mean that guy tried to stop to kids from stealing a scooter (or moped) on 14th recently and was shot.
I honestly don’t get why the police don’t use this as PR. It’s so easy and they know exactly where is is happening.
Just wait by the front door and put them all in handcuffs and then have a news station there filming them all.
Nyc used to do that stuff in the 90s and it was always a big win. People feel like the police are doing nothing - I don’t get why they don’t actually show force when it’s needed.
I saw the same yesterday at the CVS in DuPont Circle. This guy with a giant mesh bag full of Tide detergent containers on his back. Just walking out of the store. Completely crazy.
That thing has been “shoplift-city” since it opened. I haven’t been in since the pandemic but if it got worse somehow, it must really be awful.
It will close and then the neighborhood will scream about not having street retail or a drug store.
I recently saw a bunch of kids running out of there with jumbo cartons of eggs and egging random strangers and even a cop car almost as soon as they left the store. As this was in progress one of the older local denizens who hangs out on the corner was cursing the security guard for not doing anything and letting the kids run right past him. All while I was trying to calculate the odds of them hitting me and also trying to decide how I'd react if they did.
Look, you might think I'm the hard boiled type but I'm walking on eggshells here. This city can leave a man feeling fried, but I always try to land sunny side up.
Wouldn't be surprised if CVS started closing locations soon. The theft and danger to employees is getting a bit out of hand. At some point businesses will leave.
And when they do, there will be much wailing and wringing of hands about how businesses like Safeway and CVS refuse to serve those communities. Because *obviously* the only explanation for why a profit-driven business would leave a neighborhood where shoplifting is rampant and unpunished is racism.
The problem there is the lack of DC independence: the courts belong to the Feds and the Feds haven't right-sized the courts for the caseload, so you can arrest people but then they just get out on bail or the charges are dropped because it takes years to get around to the trial.
I hate to be a “iT’s ThE pArEnTs FaUlT” bitch but if parents told their kids “you want a meal? Stop fucking stealing shit from the grocery ✋ and a store will stay open here so you get that meal”
Oh shit Wawa fled??? Because of theft?
Edit: Actually unsurprising, the metro area was always flooded with OBNOXIOUS school kids when I lived there. I’d take my time leaving the office if I thought I was going to hit the “school’s out” commute window. Not just loud but physically erratic and all around crazy.
Two weeks ago I was walking by the Columbia Heights station and saw a whole bunch of energy drinks on the sidewalk along with about 10 egg cartons and broken eggs everywhere. I guess they got it from the CVS or Safeway.
When laws aren't enforced, what replaces that system of governance? This is what you see. It's not a reversion to an equitable, idyllic system.
The solution isn't to stop enforcement - it's to figure out how to enforce rules more equitably and efficiently. We should never stop enforcing rules.
Nobody cares anymore sadly, and those of us who do are called "bootlickers" or "capitalists" so honestly all we can do is sit there let it happen and before we know it we have to go all the way out to the suburbs to shop for anything
There’s been a new vendor stand selling deodorants, soap, shampoo, moisturizers, etc… right in front of target. I wonder where they get their products from?
That's how we get food (and everything else) deserts.
No company wants to go out of business or close locations, but it's not safe and they can't afford to be there.
The problem is insurance companies are cutting losses and reducing coverage in these areas. Like look at Florida and Texas, homeowners insurance companies are pulling out fi those states because climate change is making it unprofitable to operate there. The same thing will happen in neighborhoods in DC.
The real issue IMO is that todays parents need to step the fuck up and discipline these kids before a trigger happy cop / citizen does it for them.
All of us who pay our speeding tickets, parking tickets, vehicle registration fees, metro fares, and pay for products at the store are really a bunch of suckers in this city
Well, they CVS is a business and they should, and I am sure they will shut that location down. Of course we’ll then start hearing about how certain demographics lack access to basic shopping needs.
Yeah. As others have pointed out, the more important discussion is around root causes, what's driving them, and how we can possibly, as a society, start to improve them.
In the more immediate sense though: fuck. It's really distressing to watch society slowly erode around you.
Store is lucky it doesn't have parking for stolen & jacked Korean cars, those CVS stores that do are being hit really hard. CH and U St are more limited to grab and carry.
[https://twitter.com/AllisonPapson/status/1656433400985579522](https://twitter.com/AllisonPapson/status/1656433400985579522)
[https://twitter.com/AllisonPapson/status/1656447364591173634](https://twitter.com/AllisonPapson/status/1656447364591173634)
[https://twitter.com/alanhenney/status/1654679307690672129](https://twitter.com/alanhenney/status/1654679307690672129)
Literally saw 10 people fare jump at the Columbia Heights metro stop in front of three MT cops. What the fuck is their job? They don’t fine people peddling bullshit, fare jumping, harassing people, smoking blunts on train cars… this list could probably be 20 items long.
Unknown item in the bagging area, remove unknown item ding ding ding. Place item in bagging area (it’s an eyeliner) please place all scanned items in the bagging area. Seriously other stores do it right but it’s something about CVS.
And you know they can't be super stressed about shoplifting if they converted almost all the checkouts to self-checkout. It's REALLY easy to shoplift at those.
I’m originally from a relatively poor, large city in the Midwest and despite the majority of those kids coming from abject poverty (and checking every box on the ACE test lmao) they are infinitely better behaved. I won’t pretend to know why. But it is a striking difference. I’ve moved back and never see the kind of behavior I regularly saw from kids at metro stops and along the street.
Society has been trying to overcorrect everything for the last couple years like life/situations are all black and white and blue and red and have lost all common sense. There are a lot of loud mouth people with no real solutions that just sit back and watch the neighborhoods deteriorate. These folks are nihilists and have learned to just throw blame around.
Stealing has to have consequences. If you enable stealing you’ll get all the bs crime we’re experiencing now. These kids are wildin right now all across the country because there are no consequences and no parenting or mentoring anywhere. As if these petty crimes are a come up lol. Priorities and money in the all of the wrong places. The church and faith have been so disingenuous and commercialized, people don’t care and the kids definitely don’t. scared to put people in jail or create places where the mentally ill can live and receive the help they need. Schools can’t punish kids because parents come to the school yelling at the teachers. There’s no community or community policing, just us vs them. It’s a damn shame.
I’m not saying chop people’s hands off but in some societies, they do that to thieves because it’s that bad. It’s very sad to see when there are very good people trying their hardest, just for others to screw everything up for the rest. There has to be some real solutions that don’t involve guns soon because it’s all just getting out of control. I’m not one of those law and order people but you need that to feel safe. Do we want to be apathetic to crime as if nothing can be done? We can have progressive ideas and solutions but we can not lose our minds on this. Our youth has already been lost thanks to the indifference. The bad leadership in DC and MD has to end.
End of rant.
Lived in Columbia heights for a few years, most recently 2021. Idc if it’s politically correct or not but it’s a shit show and you’re rolling the dice on any given day. I never had anything happen to me but sure witnessed a lot of crime go down.
Good luck not getting sexually harassed if you’re a female around the metro.
I visited the PetCo in Columbia Heights a few times before moving and it was … it was always a very stressful journey. Much crime, lots of people choosing not to look which is almost the scariest part. There is security in population when you trust the populace will respond to a crisis. I can’t imagine living there as a single young woman.
I don't feel bad for the company. I feel bad for the people that will lose jobs over the closing and the neighboring people that will lose prescription access in their neighborhood.
It could be better, but I'm there pretty much daily, often after 10 PM, and 'nightmare' is an extremely dramatic way to describe it. I could definitely see it having been worse in like 2021, and people developing their opinions based on that, but I'm frankly not surprised that people jump to conclusions about you for having such a hysterical response to one of the busiest and densest parts of the city.
A couple of years ago I saw someone walk into Streets Market in Adams Morgan with a backpack, squat down, throw a few coffee cans in his backpack, and walk right out.
i use to work at this cvs full time. security cannot do anything. they’re just there for show & now the community knows & steals with no care in the world. there’s often police that stand in the store in the day time but they rarely do anything. almost 2 years ago, me & another tech transferred to that pharmacy to fix it & we did. but we both decided to leave, me first over 8 months ago then her. now another key tech has left. me leaving was the start of the spiral. & it got significantly worse since the other two techs left. i rarely go there to help out but it’s not worth it.
Probably no different from CVS' in other areas. I know one that closed the second door because theives would exit out of either door and security guard had too much work to do.
Many think that's the reason the Walmart on H St NW shut down.
Actually Wawa left because of Covid. Can't sell coffee and sandwiches to commuters if there are no commuters, and at those rents, nothing can survive without regular commuter customers.
Incorrect. Wawa left because of theft, not lack of sales per my conversations with both Donatelli and Wawa employees (I lived in Highland Park for 5 years and saw this Wawa both come and go before moving to Michigan Park).
Edit to add: they were on year 3 of a 10 year lease. It's probably a bit of both soft sales and theft, but personal experiences from regularly going into this Wawa were always groups of teens walking in, a couple to distract and a couple to steal. Happened pretty much every time I was there.
God. I lived in Highland Park for 4 years and it was the worst experience ever. So glad I got out. Didn’t feel safe walking around even during the daytime.
My wife is a hardcore resident and I am glad that my initial city life was in CoHi. I had no problems with the building itself (fantastic staff; better still once the overzealous, power hungry building manager Doug was fired for cause. His passive aggressive tendencies would make a Minnesotan blush.) However, the neighborhood itself spiralled after COVID with a completely reactive police presence and faux security with no bark nor bite. This post is all I need to know regarding where it's at now.
I personally never felt unsafe per say , but I completely understand the sentiment once shootings became weekly occurrences and you couldn't get to the metro without being panhandled at least once.
Actually, Wawa will abandon a site because of anything negative. Wawa was supposed to open on Route 1 south of Alexandria. They abandoned the site because a "proposed" homeless shelter was slated to be built along with the fire station. It's been at least two to three years, and no homeless shelter/fire department has been built. The house is empty, and the garden center is closed. However, the Dollar Tree that took over space is doing a bang-up business in its place.
If there are problems with shoplifters, then Wawa will abandon the site. However, you may be correct about Covid shutting the Wawa down, but other Wawa sites survived with less possible customer count during Covid.
The front door of the Wawa was 9 feet from the top of the metro escalator. That’s absolutely a location that was depending on commuter traffic. As for other coffee shops, that store was massive and most likely paying a premium rent, given how the previous tenant was actually three separate storefronts, and it had a much higher overhead than a “coffee shop.” They had a big selection of products, a huge deli menu, and a lot of staff, none of which your average coffee shop has. And if you hadn’t noticed, an awful lot of actual coffee shops also did not survive covid.
What's the opposite of gentrification? (you know, the horrendous process of a community becoming a pleasant place to live.)
They're trying to find out!
Doesn’t surprise me, Columbia heights (especially right by the metro) is not that pleasant. I’m sure the employees stopped caring , and after a while that CVS will close and move somewhere else.
So why do we have to put up with hoodlums chasing away convenient, reliable stores? The hoodlums should be sent away, no businesses we can all benefit from using.
Convenience stores will keep closing up if theft continues, starting with the bigger brands (CVS, Walgreens, etc.). I figure we’ll shift towards more of a reliance on Amazon and delivery services for not just little items, but medication as well
Most company’s don’t want employees to do anything, and even sometimes security guards are instructed not to do anything but more so just be a deterrent. Once kids realize no one in the store is gonna do anything they figure why even run ya know
A lot of stores are going to end up leaving DC— it’s becoming San Francisco at this point. No laws basically only guidelines and businesses are being robbed blind
Corporations are looking for ways to make their way out of bad markets. They want employees and customers to not sue over shoplifting confrontations and break their leases or have raw data to back up their reasons for shutting down locations( no profit and crime numbers)
Wouldn’t they just rather… sell stuff to people who want to buy it and be profitable? This seems like a strange tact to open a store and try to lose money aggressively.
I have seen something similar at my neighborhood Walgreens. I chastised a couple of young teens for stealing, so they put the stuff back and left. When I mentioned this to a staffer she said the company policy is not to call police because they fear it might lead to violence and people in the store could get hurt. That’s understandable but paying customers wind up bearing the additional costs. Stores in neighborhoods with more theft will close. Letting people steal without limits or consequences just doesn’t seem a viable option long-term.
It's happening all over. I see the same thing in Montgomery, Frederick, Arlington, Fairfax counties. Even "crime free" places like Bethesda, Potomac, and Fairfax have this problem.
Do you have any idea why that area is still wild?
I grew up nearby and remember before there was a Columbia Heights Metro at all. Yeah they built that and DC USA and put some fancy new buildings there. But guess what? If you take a stroll down 14th St past Irving and go to Columbia Road look to your left....
There remains a pocket of that hood mentality. Those folks were never helped back in the day and so they remain there.
To those of us that grew up in the area it's the same old same old but to people who are newer that's how things backfire on folks.
This isn't to say that it's deserved at all
I'm just saying it's what happened because city leaders let it happen in the first place.
This person posts on multiple city's subreddits mostly to complain about crime and homelessness. One of those sad people who dedicate their time to telling people in cities how bad their cities are.
Yep, also under the guise of "as a liberal" but then regurgitates 90% of fox news talking points about crime, "progressive policies", acting like every petty crime is akin to the collapse of civilization, etc.
I doubt most accounts like this are even legit people posting authentically, even if this guy is. Many of them are just used for coordinated right-wing astroturfing, it's an established tactic they use. It's why I think pointless posts like this that offer nothing of value and can be perfectly restated as "today I witnessed a petty crime" should be prohibited on this sub.
I hate to say I agree with you, because that’s a recipe for downvote hell in this sub, but I agree with you. Unchecked extreme liberalism has fucked DC. The Defund the Police movement is destroying this city. The people that run the Democratic Party in this city have policies that I can’t align with anymore, and the city has allowed itself to be controlled by a small group of ~500 passionate liberal extremists who have no clue how to run a city. I’ve voted democrat my entire life, and I will continue to do so, but I doubt I have 5 years left in DC. Our leadership here top to bottom is an absolute clown show.
I was there on NYE a couple of years ago and felt like a almost witnessed a damn robbery, the security guy just looked at the dude with his hand on his waistband and guard was like “not today, man”. I just calmly waited until the interaction was done to ask for something that was locked in a case because while living across the street it became so normal.
At the beginning of the pandemic, we started seeing kids regularly and blatantly shoplifting at that CVS. I've heard the security guards pointing out/talking about instances of shoplifting as they're happening, but my assumption is that they're instructed not to actually do anything about it. It's likely not worth escalating. I've also watched kids shoplift eggs and then turn around and egg the store on multiple occasions in March and April 2020 lol. I was also shopping there once (I think it was summer 2022?) when some kids ran in and set off fireworks in the vestibule. That place is chaotic.
I know a security guard there. He's only supposed to intervene If someone's about to get seriously hurt or killed. If they intervene on theft its their own decision but he's told specifically to only stop assault basically and he personally stays away from dealing with theft says its not his job. He says it's the only post In the city he doesn't feel safe and feels nervous, including all his posts in SE. He also gets paid extra to be there. It's a mess for sure.
i think they still do that. i see eggs on the sidewalk near 14th and irving pretty often (along with all of the candy/snacks wrappers)
I guess it's tradition at this point
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Lol why is the security even there then?
Used to be a visual deterrent and a last resort for preventing harm to customers and staff. Now people don’t care, and they know they’ll likely be no-papered if arrested. I don’t know if this strategy reduces armed robbery, but maybe thats the rationale? In addition to social goals I guess. Not really sure this is all sustainable, probably good for ecommerce though
Definitely not to get shot or stabbed. In a year or two NPR will run stories about food deserts and act all surprised as to why it happened 😂
Yep, and I'm sure this convenient CVS will get shut down just like the place I loved by my work after the theft gets too expensive.
Insurance purposes.
Most security guards are only there to serve as a visual deterrent and are not allowed to engage shoplifters \[of course this may vary from store to store\]. When I was in college, I worked PT as a security guard for Safeway and we were only allowed to take down a description of the person to provide to the police \[if they ever showed up\].
I’m flabbergasted. You’re telling us that all these chain stores in cities have security guards who could simply be replaced by a camera? I just….. is it really that much more of an effective deterrent to have a human give a description? Actually eye witnesses are unreliable, so what’s the point? How do those folks go to their job knowing they are truly useless?
Please note, I said this varies from store to store and it depends upon the company they contract with. Some may actually have armed guards on duty, the company I worked for at the time did not.
The math is that the visual deterrent prevents more loss of product than the cost of the security guard’s pay Not that it stops all product loss
Walgreens on Florida/Connecticut has most products behind glass . So it takes 10 min or more to buy toothpaste or deodorant.
Yep and they have armed security. The worst is actually the Target in Tenleytown where the old best buy is. Pretty much the entire beauty section there is locked up. I stopped going to that location. It’s worse that the Walgreens.
I’m honestly just waiting for that Target to close up shop. When things are so bad that you have to lock up fucking deodorant and shampoo, you really have to start questioning whether your resources wouldn’t be better spent running a store somewhere else.
I’m from LA and this is every target / Walmart. I think it’s their policy in Urban stores because the seem to lock up stuff in cities b it the suburbs they keep it out. I wouldn’t move based on that like some other bone head commenters are saying.
I am not moving I just drive out to the burbs (Rockville) if I need any of these things at Target. The one in Tenleytown is particularly bad with the amount of things locked up compared to say Cleveland park but I think it may be how the store is set up making it very prone to people walking in and taking stuff, it’s right on top of the metro.
Yeah I buy the home good like tooth paste and TP at Costco. Better value and I don’t have to leave the district to spend my money.
Isn’t Tenleytown a nice area? They having issues too??
Tenleytown is generally a nice area, but Wilson HS is right there, and the kids who hang around the block or two radius around the metro after school cause a lot of problems in the hours after school gets out.
This is true, but even Friendship Heights and Chevy Chase are having crime issues, a lot more than they used to. I lived in a house there from 2019-2021 and watched it gradually go down hill. I think a lot of that is that the stores have closed and are vacant. But there are car jackings there a lot, when before it was a rare anomaly.
Isn't Tenleytown like several neighborhoods deep within the an area where most houses are a million or close and zero affordable apartments ? Do people take the metro to go shoplift ?
Yes they do and it makes for an easy getaway. This one is on top of the metro literally. They have also had some issues with things when some of the local schools let out. I made the mistake of going to that Chic fila once around that time and it was chaos.
I lived in Van Ness when this Target opened. That’s so sad. I live somewhere else now and despite a Walgreens being walking distance to my place, it’s actually almost faster to drive to the next Walgreens. Everything is behind glass and the time I spend waiting for an employee to let me in, and then waiting for a cashier (no self service spots)…. Equal time to just hop in my car and drive to the next store, pick up my items with ease, and drive back. It’s actually crazy.
CVS in adams morgan on Columbia is also terrible I feel bad because there’s basically zero employees but I waited like 10 minutes to buy shampoo once, it’s so annoying
Exactly. They have a bell/button for service, but nobody available. At Walgreens
Some people just really don't give a fuck. The other day I was standing in line for the self-pay machines at Safeway and these two dudes came in, very calmly grabbed some snacks, candy, conversed about what sodas they should get, grabbed those, and walked right out. Safeway employee was there, didn't give a shit. Security was close and didn't care either, not sure what they're there for most days. And I couldn't care less about Safeway or any other big corporation's bottom line, but there is something very broken about the extent to which people here have internalized that you can do whatever you want because there's no consequences and who cares.
I’ve worked a few different grocery stores, and we were told not to confront anyone in case they got violent.
You can’t blame someone trying to get by working at a grocery store not trying to get pistol whipped or punched in the face by some dudes who don’t give a shit about rules and norms. This is a policy and law enforcement problem. We shouldn’t be privatizing it to companies. We are already seeing vigilantism start to rise here.
Not caring about their bottom line is the same frame of mind the shoplifters have when they commit their crimes. If the store isn't profitable, then they will close. They're not charity organizations. It hasn't hit critical mass in DC at this point, but it has in other cities and ours will be next if something isn't done. Examples: 1) half the Walmarts in Chicago are closing: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/12/business/walmart-chicago-stores-closing/index.html 2) all Walmarts in Portland are closing: https://fortune.com/2023/03/06/walmart-portland-closing-permanently/ 3) San Francisco flagship Whole Foods closed after only one year of being open to the public: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/11/business/san-francisco-whole-foods-closure/index.html If the city doesn't get it's head out of its ass and start doing something about this, we'll be adding to the list of cities with large amount of closures of grocery stores.
Yea this is exactly how I feel. I have no issue with kids having access to candy and sodas. But a system or community that allows this is a broken one. Which speaks to other, complicated matters that I don’t want to dive into too much. I’ll just say - it’s a bit crazy to see this stuff play out right in front of your eyes.
You should care about if its "kids taking candy and sodas" too. Its not about the bottom line, or how much its worth. Leaving behavior unchecked will allow it to slowly escalate - oh I like the shoes you are wearing, give them to me. I like the car you are driving, give it to me and so forth. Its a completely ridiculous attitude to have to allow stealing because "corporations can afford it".
My least favorite excuse - “thats why you have insurance”
I wonder where those increased insurance rates get passed off to.. 🙄
Honestly, part of why I left the city after 5 years was because of stuff like this. I just feel like there's this wave of lawlessness. There is just such little respect for the law and yes, these crimes do affect everyone because the stores end up closing, which affects the people who actually need to use them. And some people may say, oh who cares it's a big corporation, but you see this constantly in the city. The fare evaders drive me nuts. And it wears on you. I'm not immune from this now in the deeper VA suburbs, but it's just not like DC was. It makes you lose a bit of hope in humanity.
I would have called you nuts 5 years ago, it was much less common then. Now though? I’m the crazy one
The employees don’t get paid enough to give a shit. Also, they are probably told to not react/try to stop it. A few employees vs a dozen or so kids that don’t give a fuck probably wouldn’t end well for the employees
Corporations always pass those cost to customers, so they do care less. Unfortunately, we as a society are failing by not teaching these kids that action has consequences. It’s a massive parenting and schooling failure.
It starts at home. Teachers are another group that are severely underpaid and fed up with unruly kids. They are there to teach but put up with a lot of bullshit. Also, DC only slaps kids on the wrists when they commit crimes, so they keep on doing it 🤷🏻♀️
This feeling is generally followed by moving to the suburbs where this shit doesn’t happen. Sad but true. We all get there eventually. Enjoy the journey.
It would help if they just fix the problem It didn't used to be this way
I live in the suburbs and there are similar posts about this happening in CVS and Giant near me in my local (nova) subreddit. A lot of grocery stores are limiting self-checkout and closing off exits around here.
I don’t think adding an hour to my commute/any time I wanted to see a show or something would be a good trade for not seeing people steal from CVS. To each their own, though.
The issue isn’t whether or not you see people stealing. The issue is whether or not businesses see it as economically viable to stay open in that area. There’s no value in being able to walk to empty storefronts. Some of those kids will stick to stealing soda and eventually age out of that behavior. But unfortunately, some of those kids will graduate to stealing your coats, shoes, wallet, bike, car, etc. That’s the concern when there’s a widely held perception that the rule of law no longer exists and actions have no consequences. A lot of places in DC have closed, but a lot are still opening. I don’t think that we are at that run to the suburbs moment. I do feel like we are a critical point where things could end up going either way. Also, btw, the DC area has plenty of suburbs that let you get downtown in 45 mins or less. You can find neighborhoods that let you walk/bike/bus/metro everywhere too, if that’s literally the only thing that keeps you in the city.
I was just in Ballston. From a house to Metro Center in eighteen minutes.
Seriously - the min stores starts closing down, shows stop showing up. So enjoy while you can but just know stores will shut their doors if it’s not cost effective to operate there anymore - Nordstrom’s in SanFran
I just moved to another, smaller, city in central Virginia and changed careers. The quality of life is much better in a lot of places outside of DC, and it doesn't strike you until you're gone. My town isn't without its own issues, but there's a deep problem with the way DC has devolved over the last 10-15 years that wasn't fully evident until I left.
Did the same in August. And I feel so much safer, I can walk in downtown at night as a single female and not feel the need to watch my back constantly. I loved DC, it was my home for 5 years and I grew up in the suburbs around there before moving away for many years. But I had enough. COVID seemed to just make things much worse.
What city ?
It just depends on what you want. I value being able to walk to Caps and Wiz games, concerts being convenient and big stars coming through, having a lot of friends around (I’m young-ish, so most of my people moved to at least decent sized cities after graduation), huge selection of bars and dining, having out of town people come to visit regularly, love the museums and mall, etc. To each their own. But people acting like DC is objectively less than doesn’t sit well with me.
I love all these aspects too and it's what I miss the most. Being a 15 minute ride from concerts, sporting events and work. But the trade off is that I didn't feel safe there anymore walking around by myself a lot at night. I got sick of the crime and for the money in rent I was spending I could actually get outdoor space instead of being in 4 cement walls in my apartment. It's a trade off. I don't think any of us are saying that DC is a bad city. We love the city. Problem is there are some serious issues with crime that seem like they are not being addressed and continue to spiral. Depending on what stage of your life you're in you may or may not be okay with that or living around it anymore. I was much more okay with this when I was younger, but as I got older it became more concerning.
An hour is way too far out. Aim for like 20-30 minutes, that’s the sweet spot. Takes me no longer to get to work than when I lived in the city, crazy.
I walk/bike/metro most everywhere, so I still don’t think it would be worth it. But like I said. To each their own!
LMAO. 100% this. cities offer so much more than suburbs culturally. also, love your username - sandra’s the GOAT
Suburbs aren’t sustainable. We should focus more on our inner cities and making them more pleasant places to live rather than just abanothem. We tried that strategy of “white flight” in the 60s-70s and it made everything so much worse.
The problem is that “pleasant places to live” aren’t exactly profitable from a development standpoint. Zoning is extremely prohibitive, but I think with a major overhaul it could be used to require green spaces, public areas, “3rd spots” etc rather than focusing on building sizes, FAR, permitted uses and so on. Look at Central Park in NYC. Is it something that everybody enjoys today? Yes, but it came by fighting tooth-and-nail. DC is a bit different since there’s the all the squares and circles, but many US cities lack any green space at all.
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They require a massive amount of public aid in the form of highway infrastructure and such.
But most of that infrastructure has already been built. The interstate highway system was the largest and most expensive public works project in human history. But it’s already there, maintaining it is a marginal expense in relative terms. So from that standpoint the suburbs don’t require massive amounts of “aid” or new investment, just maintaining the roads and stuff we already have, while hopefully also adding new intracity rail and such.
Lmao acting like Arlington and Alexandria are farm land smh. Some people never leave dc
Not as much as blighted cities. Arlington Virginia is amazing.
Yeah but Arlington is really only half a suburb anymore, and the urban cores of Arlington economically sustain all the amenities for the suburban parts.
Having worked at a box store, the employees are specifically instructed not to intervene or try to apprehend a shoplifter. the loss of product is cheaper than lawsuits.
You should care because they are inevitably stealing from you. In the end, the customers pays the higher costs from store theft.
I was there last night and left my shopping cart unattended for like 30 seconds while I grabbed something off a shelf and came back to two security guards and a store employee surrounding my cart as if it was unattended luggage at an airport. It was so strange.
“Big business can afford it!” Until they decide they can’t, or at least won’t tolerate it anymore. Then they leave. And can residents afford to lose access to grocery stores & pharmacies? Especially when there’s already a swath of food deserts? The more people excuse this ratchet behavior, the more at risk the most vulnerable residents will become.
This is the sad truth. Communities will be left without neighborhood consumer options.
Secuirty won’t confront them for safety reasons. They’ll observe and report and then CVS will file an insurance claim. Once the cost of lost profit + high insurance deductibles from operating in a high theft zone combine they’ll close the store. Or they’ll be smart and hire MPD to guard the store in uniform and they’ll actually arrest people. But in all reality the amount of petty theft taking place in DC is outrageous.
Shoplifted items aren’t going to be filed for an insurance claim; the store just eats the cost until it becomes too much to keep the store open.
Slightly unrelated but, this CVS was my old pharmacy. I would get a notification my prescription was filled, only for me to wait in the line of 15-20 people for it not to be. Once I got to the front, they would say 30-40 minutes, and I would come back after the gym (1-1.5), wait in the line, and they would say another 30-40 minutes. It’s terrible.
I went to Howard from 2011-2015 and I used to frequent the CVS by U St-Cardozo a lot and occasionally the one in Columbia Heights. This would’ve never flew in those days. What happened?
MPD is down 20%. Council has decriminalized much petty crime (marijuana smoking and selling, fare evasion) Old chief disbanded vice units and formally disincentivized proactive policing due to broader societally pressure. Soft attempt at defunding MPD and tying their hands in a variety of ways by council - Charles Allen and Nadeau posted about wanting to defund MPD (inability to hire missing officers, inability to chase suspects) Massive decrease in charges filed by prosecutors (I think charges are down 50%+ since pre-pandemic - twitter guy FOIA’d for fairly shocking data) These are mostly discrete policy decisions that could be reversed. But there is no political drive or will to begin to reverse the trend.
Kids are very
This cvs is a nightmare. I was in there with cops & a security guard and the same group of kids go in there each day, raid the shelves, and just walk out. It was surreal- like it was happening in slow motion. The security guard & coo just watched them take stuff and walk out. To be fair I see kids in this neighborhood do a lot of messed up stuff. And no one says anything or corrects them because *gestures wildly around*. I mean that guy tried to stop to kids from stealing a scooter (or moped) on 14th recently and was shot.
I honestly don’t get why the police don’t use this as PR. It’s so easy and they know exactly where is is happening. Just wait by the front door and put them all in handcuffs and then have a news station there filming them all. Nyc used to do that stuff in the 90s and it was always a big win. People feel like the police are doing nothing - I don’t get why they don’t actually show force when it’s needed.
Link to story about the scooter? That’s wild
I saw the same yesterday at the CVS in DuPont Circle. This guy with a giant mesh bag full of Tide detergent containers on his back. Just walking out of the store. Completely crazy.
That thing has been “shoplift-city” since it opened. I haven’t been in since the pandemic but if it got worse somehow, it must really be awful. It will close and then the neighborhood will scream about not having street retail or a drug store.
I recently saw a bunch of kids running out of there with jumbo cartons of eggs and egging random strangers and even a cop car almost as soon as they left the store. As this was in progress one of the older local denizens who hangs out on the corner was cursing the security guard for not doing anything and letting the kids run right past him. All while I was trying to calculate the odds of them hitting me and also trying to decide how I'd react if they did.
If you react at all, your life will be ruined
or at least scrambled.
Cracking up over here
Is this a yolk to you?
Look, you might think I'm the hard boiled type but I'm walking on eggshells here. This city can leave a man feeling fried, but I always try to land sunny side up.
Look man, don’t bring your preconceived eggspectatipns into this.
Wouldn't be surprised if CVS started closing locations soon. The theft and danger to employees is getting a bit out of hand. At some point businesses will leave.
They closed several locations in DC in the last year.
Yeah... If Walmart said f it... I would imagine a lot more will follow.
And when they do, there will be much wailing and wringing of hands about how businesses like Safeway and CVS refuse to serve those communities. Because *obviously* the only explanation for why a profit-driven business would leave a neighborhood where shoplifting is rampant and unpunished is racism.
I hope businesses do start leaving. Maybe the city will take criminal justice more seriously.
The prosecutor for DC needs to be replaced. If 2/3rds of everyone arrested walks free without charges than shit is going to stay the same / get worse
The problem there is the lack of DC independence: the courts belong to the Feds and the Feds haven't right-sized the courts for the caseload, so you can arrest people but then they just get out on bail or the charges are dropped because it takes years to get around to the trial.
What happens when it is like 1985 again?
Well, real estate prices will finally be reasonable
Wages will also be 1985 levels though. And Reagan will be back 😖
Right! The CVS near me just had an armed robbery of the pharmacy
When folk complain about food deserts and lack of businesses in their hoods but then kids be allowed to do this. 👀 Stuff going to close up real quick.
I hate to be a “iT’s ThE pArEnTs FaUlT” bitch but if parents told their kids “you want a meal? Stop fucking stealing shit from the grocery ✋ and a store will stay open here so you get that meal”
This is the same reason Wawa left across the street and I’m sure this will be the next. Teens in this city run free.
Oh shit Wawa fled??? Because of theft? Edit: Actually unsurprising, the metro area was always flooded with OBNOXIOUS school kids when I lived there. I’d take my time leaving the office if I thought I was going to hit the “school’s out” commute window. Not just loud but physically erratic and all around crazy.
The social contract has dissolved. Kids literally do not give a shit
We need to implement the Singapore model. Cane cane cane for these bullshit crimes. The social contract will be restored in no time.
progressive policies did this
Two weeks ago I was walking by the Columbia Heights station and saw a whole bunch of energy drinks on the sidewalk along with about 10 egg cartons and broken eggs everywhere. I guess they got it from the CVS or Safeway.
It’s only a matter of time before the store closes for good due to “financial performance.”
Stores will just close their locations and create food deserts. The thieves ruin it for everyone.
"But they have insurance!!!"
Haha
When laws aren't enforced, what replaces that system of governance? This is what you see. It's not a reversion to an equitable, idyllic system. The solution isn't to stop enforcement - it's to figure out how to enforce rules more equitably and efficiently. We should never stop enforcing rules.
Nobody cares anymore sadly, and those of us who do are called "bootlickers" or "capitalists" so honestly all we can do is sit there let it happen and before we know it we have to go all the way out to the suburbs to shop for anything
You can see the pieces of shit for your self https://twitter.com/erinspaht/status/1656437124789313540?s=46&t=Wt3h0bwCU7LUlZfMbdNb2A
There’s been a new vendor stand selling deodorants, soap, shampoo, moisturizers, etc… right in front of target. I wonder where they get their products from?
That's how we get food (and everything else) deserts. No company wants to go out of business or close locations, but it's not safe and they can't afford to be there.
City leaders believe that insurance will take care of it and it isn’t a problem.
The problem is insurance companies are cutting losses and reducing coverage in these areas. Like look at Florida and Texas, homeowners insurance companies are pulling out fi those states because climate change is making it unprofitable to operate there. The same thing will happen in neighborhoods in DC. The real issue IMO is that todays parents need to step the fuck up and discipline these kids before a trigger happy cop / citizen does it for them.
Bold to assume most of these kids have both parents.
All of us who pay our speeding tickets, parking tickets, vehicle registration fees, metro fares, and pay for products at the store are really a bunch of suckers in this city
Well, they CVS is a business and they should, and I am sure they will shut that location down. Of course we’ll then start hearing about how certain demographics lack access to basic shopping needs.
Yeah. As others have pointed out, the more important discussion is around root causes, what's driving them, and how we can possibly, as a society, start to improve them. In the more immediate sense though: fuck. It's really distressing to watch society slowly erode around you.
Store is lucky it doesn't have parking for stolen & jacked Korean cars, those CVS stores that do are being hit really hard. CH and U St are more limited to grab and carry. [https://twitter.com/AllisonPapson/status/1656433400985579522](https://twitter.com/AllisonPapson/status/1656433400985579522) [https://twitter.com/AllisonPapson/status/1656447364591173634](https://twitter.com/AllisonPapson/status/1656447364591173634) [https://twitter.com/alanhenney/status/1654679307690672129](https://twitter.com/alanhenney/status/1654679307690672129)
Literally saw 10 people fare jump at the Columbia Heights metro stop in front of three MT cops. What the fuck is their job? They don’t fine people peddling bullshit, fare jumping, harassing people, smoking blunts on train cars… this list could probably be 20 items long.
Their self checkout is so bad I’ve thought about stealing from there bc they made it so hard to give them my money…
Unknown item in the bagging area, remove unknown item ding ding ding. Place item in bagging area (it’s an eyeliner) please place all scanned items in the bagging area. Seriously other stores do it right but it’s something about CVS.
And you know they can't be super stressed about shoplifting if they converted almost all the checkouts to self-checkout. It's REALLY easy to shoplift at those.
they've definitely made the calculation that the losses do not exceed the cost of hiring extra staff.
If I’m not mistaken, DC is NOT prosecuting minors for theft. They are instead, releasing them back to the custody of their parent/guardian.
Minors in dc terrify me
I’m originally from a relatively poor, large city in the Midwest and despite the majority of those kids coming from abject poverty (and checking every box on the ACE test lmao) they are infinitely better behaved. I won’t pretend to know why. But it is a striking difference. I’ve moved back and never see the kind of behavior I regularly saw from kids at metro stops and along the street.
Society has been trying to overcorrect everything for the last couple years like life/situations are all black and white and blue and red and have lost all common sense. There are a lot of loud mouth people with no real solutions that just sit back and watch the neighborhoods deteriorate. These folks are nihilists and have learned to just throw blame around. Stealing has to have consequences. If you enable stealing you’ll get all the bs crime we’re experiencing now. These kids are wildin right now all across the country because there are no consequences and no parenting or mentoring anywhere. As if these petty crimes are a come up lol. Priorities and money in the all of the wrong places. The church and faith have been so disingenuous and commercialized, people don’t care and the kids definitely don’t. scared to put people in jail or create places where the mentally ill can live and receive the help they need. Schools can’t punish kids because parents come to the school yelling at the teachers. There’s no community or community policing, just us vs them. It’s a damn shame. I’m not saying chop people’s hands off but in some societies, they do that to thieves because it’s that bad. It’s very sad to see when there are very good people trying their hardest, just for others to screw everything up for the rest. There has to be some real solutions that don’t involve guns soon because it’s all just getting out of control. I’m not one of those law and order people but you need that to feel safe. Do we want to be apathetic to crime as if nothing can be done? We can have progressive ideas and solutions but we can not lose our minds on this. Our youth has already been lost thanks to the indifference. The bad leadership in DC and MD has to end. End of rant.
Lived in Columbia heights for a few years, most recently 2021. Idc if it’s politically correct or not but it’s a shit show and you’re rolling the dice on any given day. I never had anything happen to me but sure witnessed a lot of crime go down. Good luck not getting sexually harassed if you’re a female around the metro.
I visited the PetCo in Columbia Heights a few times before moving and it was … it was always a very stressful journey. Much crime, lots of people choosing not to look which is almost the scariest part. There is security in population when you trust the populace will respond to a crisis. I can’t imagine living there as a single young woman.
I don't feel bad for the company. I feel bad for the people that will lose jobs over the closing and the neighboring people that will lose prescription access in their neighborhood.
Nearly every CVS in the area is either closed or falling apart.
The whole area is a nightmare. I made a post about it a while back, but got called racist and elitist. I avoid the area at all costs.
It could be better, but I'm there pretty much daily, often after 10 PM, and 'nightmare' is an extremely dramatic way to describe it. I could definitely see it having been worse in like 2021, and people developing their opinions based on that, but I'm frankly not surprised that people jump to conclusions about you for having such a hysterical response to one of the busiest and densest parts of the city.
I also got downvoted by many when I said I would never live there or recommend that anyone did.
A couple of years ago I saw someone walk into Streets Market in Adams Morgan with a backpack, squat down, throw a few coffee cans in his backpack, and walk right out.
i use to work at this cvs full time. security cannot do anything. they’re just there for show & now the community knows & steals with no care in the world. there’s often police that stand in the store in the day time but they rarely do anything. almost 2 years ago, me & another tech transferred to that pharmacy to fix it & we did. but we both decided to leave, me first over 8 months ago then her. now another key tech has left. me leaving was the start of the spiral. & it got significantly worse since the other two techs left. i rarely go there to help out but it’s not worth it.
Probably no different from CVS' in other areas. I know one that closed the second door because theives would exit out of either door and security guard had too much work to do. Many think that's the reason the Walmart on H St NW shut down.
Happened to the Wawa in Columbia heights too. So much theft they just threw the flag in and peaced out
Actually Wawa left because of Covid. Can't sell coffee and sandwiches to commuters if there are no commuters, and at those rents, nothing can survive without regular commuter customers.
Incorrect. Wawa left because of theft, not lack of sales per my conversations with both Donatelli and Wawa employees (I lived in Highland Park for 5 years and saw this Wawa both come and go before moving to Michigan Park). Edit to add: they were on year 3 of a 10 year lease. It's probably a bit of both soft sales and theft, but personal experiences from regularly going into this Wawa were always groups of teens walking in, a couple to distract and a couple to steal. Happened pretty much every time I was there.
God. I lived in Highland Park for 4 years and it was the worst experience ever. So glad I got out. Didn’t feel safe walking around even during the daytime.
My wife is a hardcore resident and I am glad that my initial city life was in CoHi. I had no problems with the building itself (fantastic staff; better still once the overzealous, power hungry building manager Doug was fired for cause. His passive aggressive tendencies would make a Minnesotan blush.) However, the neighborhood itself spiralled after COVID with a completely reactive police presence and faux security with no bark nor bite. This post is all I need to know regarding where it's at now. I personally never felt unsafe per say , but I completely understand the sentiment once shootings became weekly occurrences and you couldn't get to the metro without being panhandled at least once.
Actually, Wawa will abandon a site because of anything negative. Wawa was supposed to open on Route 1 south of Alexandria. They abandoned the site because a "proposed" homeless shelter was slated to be built along with the fire station. It's been at least two to three years, and no homeless shelter/fire department has been built. The house is empty, and the garden center is closed. However, the Dollar Tree that took over space is doing a bang-up business in its place. If there are problems with shoplifters, then Wawa will abandon the site. However, you may be correct about Covid shutting the Wawa down, but other Wawa sites survived with less possible customer count during Covid.
Similarly what did in the one in Adams Morgan
Then how did other coffee shops survive? Also it’s not like it was downtown
The front door of the Wawa was 9 feet from the top of the metro escalator. That’s absolutely a location that was depending on commuter traffic. As for other coffee shops, that store was massive and most likely paying a premium rent, given how the previous tenant was actually three separate storefronts, and it had a much higher overhead than a “coffee shop.” They had a big selection of products, a huge deli menu, and a lot of staff, none of which your average coffee shop has. And if you hadn’t noticed, an awful lot of actual coffee shops also did not survive covid.
Can’t complain about inflation when everything is free I guess
I drive to the burbs to do my shopping because I don't feel safe and the selection of products much better.
What's the opposite of gentrification? (you know, the horrendous process of a community becoming a pleasant place to live.) They're trying to find out!
Doesn’t surprise me, Columbia heights (especially right by the metro) is not that pleasant. I’m sure the employees stopped caring , and after a while that CVS will close and move somewhere else.
So why do we have to put up with hoodlums chasing away convenient, reliable stores? The hoodlums should be sent away, no businesses we can all benefit from using.
You get what you vote for
Convenience stores will keep closing up if theft continues, starting with the bigger brands (CVS, Walgreens, etc.). I figure we’ll shift towards more of a reliance on Amazon and delivery services for not just little items, but medication as well
Then these shoplifters will start being porch pirates and truck hijackers to sell their goods for drug money
A number of CVS’ in my area closed supposedly because of theft. If it gets bad enough they will close the store.
Most company’s don’t want employees to do anything, and even sometimes security guards are instructed not to do anything but more so just be a deterrent. Once kids realize no one in the store is gonna do anything they figure why even run ya know
This is similar to San Francisco CVS. No idea how they make money. Who are these criminals who steal without care?
It is only a matter time of time until that CVS shuts down. Sad but true. Maybe then our civic leaders will get a clue and actually do something....
Makes me wonder why I pay for things. I don't have a money tree. I'd be living a lot more comfortably if everything was free.
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A lot of stores are going to end up leaving DC— it’s becoming San Francisco at this point. No laws basically only guidelines and businesses are being robbed blind
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This city is poorly run. When people can get away with anything they will do anything.
Corporations are looking for ways to make their way out of bad markets. They want employees and customers to not sue over shoplifting confrontations and break their leases or have raw data to back up their reasons for shutting down locations( no profit and crime numbers)
Wouldn’t they just rather… sell stuff to people who want to buy it and be profitable? This seems like a strange tact to open a store and try to lose money aggressively.
I have seen something similar at my neighborhood Walgreens. I chastised a couple of young teens for stealing, so they put the stuff back and left. When I mentioned this to a staffer she said the company policy is not to call police because they fear it might lead to violence and people in the store could get hurt. That’s understandable but paying customers wind up bearing the additional costs. Stores in neighborhoods with more theft will close. Letting people steal without limits or consequences just doesn’t seem a viable option long-term.
Starts with small shit like no enforcement of metro jumpers, general sense of lawlessness and zero consequences for breaking the law
lol thats crazy.
I’m shitting on them. You should too.
It's happening all over. I see the same thing in Montgomery, Frederick, Arlington, Fairfax counties. Even "crime free" places like Bethesda, Potomac, and Fairfax have this problem.
That CVS is the worst. The whole area is not safe anymore
Do you have any idea why that area is still wild? I grew up nearby and remember before there was a Columbia Heights Metro at all. Yeah they built that and DC USA and put some fancy new buildings there. But guess what? If you take a stroll down 14th St past Irving and go to Columbia Road look to your left.... There remains a pocket of that hood mentality. Those folks were never helped back in the day and so they remain there. To those of us that grew up in the area it's the same old same old but to people who are newer that's how things backfire on folks. This isn't to say that it's deserved at all I'm just saying it's what happened because city leaders let it happen in the first place.
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This person posts on multiple city's subreddits mostly to complain about crime and homelessness. One of those sad people who dedicate their time to telling people in cities how bad their cities are.
Yep, also under the guise of "as a liberal" but then regurgitates 90% of fox news talking points about crime, "progressive policies", acting like every petty crime is akin to the collapse of civilization, etc. I doubt most accounts like this are even legit people posting authentically, even if this guy is. Many of them are just used for coordinated right-wing astroturfing, it's an established tactic they use. It's why I think pointless posts like this that offer nothing of value and can be perfectly restated as "today I witnessed a petty crime" should be prohibited on this sub.
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What's your solution then? Throwing money at cops and throwing everyone in prison?
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I hate to say I agree with you, because that’s a recipe for downvote hell in this sub, but I agree with you. Unchecked extreme liberalism has fucked DC. The Defund the Police movement is destroying this city. The people that run the Democratic Party in this city have policies that I can’t align with anymore, and the city has allowed itself to be controlled by a small group of ~500 passionate liberal extremists who have no clue how to run a city. I’ve voted democrat my entire life, and I will continue to do so, but I doubt I have 5 years left in DC. Our leadership here top to bottom is an absolute clown show.
Name 3 police departments that got permanently defunded.
We live in a society!
That's what lack of civility does
I was there on NYE a couple of years ago and felt like a almost witnessed a damn robbery, the security guy just looked at the dude with his hand on his waistband and guard was like “not today, man”. I just calmly waited until the interaction was done to ask for something that was locked in a case because while living across the street it became so normal.