Brazen thieves have been hitting the same Upper East Side Rite Aid for months, forcing it to close - and now, numerous small businesses in the upscale Manhattan neighborhood, where residents say they are on high alert because of rising crime, are worried they will soon suffer the same fate after a string of thefts.
Shelves are already bare in the Rite Aid store, located at the corner of 80th Street and 2nd Avenue because it will shut its doors for good on February 15, the manager told DailyMail.com, a day after a thief was caught on video boldly sauntering out with shopping bags full of stolen goods.
The brazen incident in one of New York City's wealthiest neighborhoods was only captured on camera because actor and comedian Michael Rapaport had stopped by to pick up his prescription mood stabilizers. He said it was 'pathetic' that brazen crime continues to spiral in the Big Apple because of soft-on-crime policies.
'These criminals know there are no ramifications. We have to put more of these mfers in jail,' he fumed to DailyMail.com.
The Rite Aid's closure is just one of many in the city. On February 8, a Hell's Kitchen store which has been rife with robberies in recent months will close, and on the Upper West Side, another store which experienced daily thefts shut down in November. Just this week, there was news that a Rite Aid located at Clinton Joralemon Streets in the Brooklyn Heights is also set to close next month.
The chain announced last year that it was shutting down about 63 stores across the US in the next few years, citing cost-cutting measures to save $25 million a year - but workers say that the thefts are part of the reason for the closures as inventory dwindles.
Robbery in New York City has spiked by about 33 percent in the week ending on January 23, according to the NYPD's most recent data, with 944 incidents compared to 709 incidents reported during the same timeframe last year. Overall crime has gone up by nearly 39 percent, with 7,230 incidents this year as compared to last year's 5,211.
Crime in the city has become so rampant that President Joe Biden will visit New York City next week to discuss combatting gun crime with Mayor Eric Adams after two police officers were executed by a gunman with a long rap sheet.
While Adams has said that he will stamp down on crime, and roll out the undercover anti-gun crime unit disbanded under Bill De Blasio, he still has to contend with lax policies put in place by soft-on-crime Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg who has told prosecutors to seek non-custodial sentences for many crimes, and downgraded most robberies to a misdemeanor.
Meanwhile, small business owners and workers in the Upper East Side - once one of America's wealthiest zip codes - say no one is stopping the thefts and they are also being targeted on a daily basis.
Sayed Imam, the store manager of Wine Emporium, for 15 years said there is little to no support from the police - and even if they call 911, by the time the cops show up, the thieves are gone.
'For us, every inventory counts,' he said. 'Since the beginning of the pandemic, these thefts just keep happening. And we don't have the support from police.'
Imam added that the thieves have become so brazen because they know no one will stop them.
The rampant thefts follows a trend in started in crime-ridden San Francisco where thieves last year were often seen simply waltzing past security guards to sell stolen items right outside the doors of Walgreens pharmacies.
The national chain has closed 17 of its 70 San Francisco locations in the past two years because of the shelf raiders, who have swiped everything not behind lock and key. Thefts in the chain's 53 remaining stores are five times the average for their stores elsewhere in the country, according to company officials.
Shelves are already bare in the Rite Aid store, located at the corner of 80th Street and 2nd Avenue because it will shut its doors for good on February 15, the manager told DailyMail.com, a day after a thief was caught on video boldly sauntering out with shopping bags full of stolen goods
Robbery in New York City has spiked by about 33 percent in the week ending on January 23, according to the NYPD's most recent data, with 944 incidents compared to 709 incidents reported during the same timeframe last year. Overall crime has gone up by nearly 39 percent, with 7,230 incidents this year as compared to last year's 5,211
Empty shelves are seen at Rite Aid on the Upper East Side just three weeks before they're set to close. The store's closure is just one of many in the city. On February 8, a Hell's Kitchen store which has been rife with robberies in recent months will close, and on the Upper West Side, another store which experienced daily thefts shut down in November
Sayed Imam, the store manager of Wine Emporium (pictured) say no one is stopping the thefts and they are also being targeted on a daily basis. He added that there is little to no support from the police - and even if they call 911, by the time the cops show up, the thieves are gone
An Upper East Side resident, who only wanted to be identified by her first name, Simin, has lived in the area since 1996. She said the once-quiet, safe, family neighborhood has become 'too dangerous' and residents are constantly on high alert. Seeing thieves load up with goods is a common occurrence, and people refuse to intervene out of fear they'll be hurt or even killed.
Simin told DailyMail.com that a few weeks ago a Starbucks at 87th and Third Ave, just a few blocks away from the now infamous Rite Aid, was targeted.
'A man came in with a large bag and just start filling it with mugs and other stuff from those shelves. He just scooped them into the bag, not even trying to hide it.'
She said a store employee finally stopped him and the man ran out the door - with his loaded up bag.
'I wasn't going to do anything. You just never know. These are crazy times. What if he had a knife? What if he had a gun and just started shootings up the whole place? No, I wasn't going to take that risk.
She told DailyMail.com that that the neighborhood is still her home that she loves, but is worried about that the uptick in thefts will lead to more violence in the usually quiet neighborhood.
While she continues to be stunned by the thefts, a young employee at the Starbucks just across the street from Rite aid
