Joplin and Webb City retailers tackle shoplifting during the holiday season

WEBB CITY, Mo. — Many retail stores are busier this time of year because of Christmas shopping. While that often leads to more sales, it can also mean a hike in shoplifting.

According to the National Retail Federation, there’s been a 93% jump in shoplifting between 2019, before COVID, and 2023, after COVID. That statistic doesn’t surprise John Henkle at all.

"We had a situation in our Joplin store where somebody had come in and stolen some reciprocating saw blades and, flashlights," said John Henkle, Henkle’s Ace Hardware owner.

He says thieves have changed the way he and his wife do business at both their locations in Joplin and Webb City. And he says shoplifters often hit more than just one retailer, which is one of the reasons why they’ve added more eyes in the sky and have learned to work with other retailers to try and stop them.

"Well, the next night the same people had stolen a catalytic converter on a vehicle, and they had pictures of them also, so it helped the police build a case against the people because same people, same clothes. Oh gosh, they were using our flashlights and reciprocating saw blades that they stole to steal something else," said Henkle.

Other anti-theft measures they’ve had to resort to include putting high-dollar items under lock and key.

"We had to buy the glass cases, which are expensive, but it’s worth it. You know, you lose a two-hundred- or three-hundred-dollar power tool, and people would sometimes just take it out of the box to make it smaller so they could conceal it more," said Henkle.

High-volume sales items are still within customers’ sight, but high enough up that an employee is needed to bring them down. And in some cases, it’s not products themselves that thieves are after.

"People coming in with stolen credit cards or trying to call credit cards in or trying to do odd things, so it’s really important that we have to be vigilant," said Henkle.