Downtown Berkeley is home to approximately 680 small businesses, with more than half of the 200 start-up businesses located downtown. 14 of Berkeley’s 56 coffee houses are located in downtown Berkeley. According to Berkeley police, retail theft rose 19 percent from 2022 to 2023, and have risen every year since 2016, which was the first year this data was available, rising 169 percent from 2016 to 2023. In 2023, businesses also reported $3.6 million in losses from theft. With small businesses so close in vicinity to Berkeley High School students, how do they combat the rising shoplifting incidents?
E-Z Stop Deli is located on Shattuck and is a popular place for students to buy lunch. A small grocery store with deli breakfasts, Lebanese sandwiches, and homestyle sandwiches, E-Z Stop has been a well-loved business since opening in 1994. Alejandro, one of the servers, says that a big part of trying to prevent theft is cameras and always making sure there is enough staff to monitor the environment and customers. He also said that there is a policy between the businesses in downtown Berkeley and BHS to call the school when a student is caught shoplifting as an act to address the issue. Furthermore, Alejandro mentioned that the business does not have as many shoplifting problems with BHS students as they do with unhoused people.
In Berkeley, the total number of unhoused individuals was 844, including both sheltered and unsheltered people. This number had actually decreased 45 percent from 2022. Unfortunately, small businesses do still struggle with unhoused people shoplifting food or necessities from their stores. While some resources are provided for unhoused individuals to try and give necessities, there are unfortunately still many cases of stealing. Starbucks also struggled with this, drinks would often be stolen by unhoused people.
An anonymous student who has been caught stealing before said that the school was called and then called their parents, and they haven’t attempted to steal since. Another anonymous student said that the Target near BHS informed them that they were building a case against him that they would take to court, which they said scared them into never shoplifting from Target again.