Giant Food to start receipt checks at DC store as it battles ‘unsustainable levels of product theft’

Dive Brief:

Employees at a Giant Food location in Washington, D.C., on Thursday will start inspecting shoppers’ receipts when they leave the store as the supermarket chain tries to “mitigate the unprecedented levels of product theft that has become unsustainable for our business,” Giant Food spokesperson Jon Arons said.
The grocer also plans to stop carrying certain national brand health and beauty products and boost the supply of similar private label items it stocks at the store “in the coming weeks,” the spokesperson told Grocery Dive.
The actions follow a decision by Giant Food earlier this year to limit basket sizes at self-checkout counters chainwide to cut down on shrink.

Dive Insight:

While Giant is only implementing receipt checks and removing selected name-brand products from its store on Alabama Avenue in the nation’s capital at this point, Arons said the retailer is actively exploring ways to step up theft-deterrence at other stores it operates.

Giant is “testing this approach at the Alabama Avenue store, but we continue to evaluate all of our stores as we determine what the most appropriate actions are for each,” Arons said. The company chose the store where it is trying the new measures because the location, at 1535 Alabama Ave., S.E., has an especially high level of theft and violence, Arons added.

According to a statement provided by Giant, asset-protection staff at the store will greet shoppers as they walk in and examine receipts as people leave. The store also has third-party security personnel at the store, as do certain other Giant stores, Arons told Grocery Dive.

In addition, all Giant Food locations limit shoppers who use self-checkout stations to 20 items per transaction, according to Arons. A unit of Ahold Delhaize, Giant operates about 165 supermarkets in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and Washington, D.C.

Giant did not specify which national labels it intends to stop carrying at the Alabama Avenue store. The brands include Tide, Schick, Dove, Degree, Pantene, Colgate and Advil, according to a report in The Washington Post.

“The retail theft that we are experiencing across our market area is a problem that affects all of us, limiting product availability, creating a less convenient shopping experience, and, most critically, placing our associates and customers in harm’s way,” Giant said in the statement. “We need to be able to run our stores safely and profitably, and we take these responsibilities seriously. None of the tactics we deploy is the ultimate solution to the problem we face, but we continue to invest in efforts that will improve safety for our associates and customers and reduce theft.”

Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled one of the national brands Giant Food is reportedly going to stop selling at its store on Alabama Avenue in Washington, D.C. The brand is Schick.