Sephora has drastically changed the way people shop for fragrances in its stores, and it’s blaming store thefts for it.
Sephora told CNN that it has removed all fragrances – which it said are among the most targeted items for theft – from stores shelves and displays and replaced them with fragrance tester bottles.
— Read more in Sephora has locked up all its perfume. It says too many people were stealing.
I’m not surprised at this change. A pox on people who steal!
Yep.
I work in retail, and the stories I could tell you. We have sewing machines that we’ve put spider wrap on — the black cords with the circular alarm device — and people still walk out the door with them, not caring that they’re setting off the alarms, so we had to zip-tie them to the shelves. No doubt people will start bringing in wire-cutters next. And they talk among themselves and know we aren’t allowed to stop them physically, so they will literally fill tote bags with merchandise and walk out the door. They do not care. It’s maddening.
We have to put more and more things behind the counter: retail is gradually heading back to the old model of merchandising, where you can’t get your hands on anything without the intervention of a clerk (and yet they’re constantly cutting back on staff, which is a big part of the problem).
My goodness, sewing machines! That’s amazing.
Now they’ll steal the testers—as they always have. I agree with pyramus. They come in with big bags, fill them with expensive perfumes, and walk out when the security guard is on a break.