Images popped up on social media of empty store shelves, with the poster bemoaning the absence of paper products that had stood there and ridiculing the photo frames that sat in their place.
The shelves are inside the CVS store on H Street NE, where pictures of paper towel and toilet paper products line the shelves and there’s a buzzer-button shoppers press to summon a store clerk to retrieve the product from a backroom, where they are safely stored.
Those familiar with the situation, who asked not to be named, said that people experiencing homelessness have been running off with the products without paying.
Outside the store, on a block transformed by newly-built apartment buildings, passersby acknowledged the recent sharp rise in retail theft.
“It seems to be a case that people don’t care about laws or respect that anymore. In the United Kingdom, we are seeing shops closing down because they’re losing so much money from people shoplifting, which is obviously having an impact on the economy in general,” said Mark Davis of Yorkshire, England, a visitor in D.C. from the United Kingdom.
“I just think society is starting to change. And it’s a deeper thing that we need to look at altogether,” he added.
Retail theft rings have repeatedly struck stores in Tysons Corner, Virginia and smash and grab burglaries have plagued retailers throughout the region, from suburban Maryland to northern Virginia. Many CVS locations in the area have been hit by looting in recent months.
“First, I want to say this: this is not just an H street or a D.C. problem. This is something that’s going on all over the country, right?” said Ben Atanga, owner of a Maryland based wellness studio, as he strolled H Street.
Asked specifically about the theft of paper towels and toilet paper inside the CVS, Atanga provided a more nuanced view.
“The economy is going up, cost of living is going up … If people are stealing … items, necessities, you know, I think maybe we should take a look at that,” Atanga said. “Maybe those are things that we don’t increase or maybe as a community we provide that … ‘Hey look, you can come pick up toiletries and stuff like that, so that you can take care of yourself’. H Street has always had a huge homeless population.”
