Although the Rite Aid in Compton had almost all of its products under lock and key, the Santa Ana and Calabasas stores had products on full display. Camilla Rambaldi reports for the NBC4 News at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Sep. 19, 2024.
While pharmacy chain Rite Aid said it’s applying “multi-layer product protection” by locking up merchandise inside stores to prevent theft, NBC Los Angeles learned the policy did not appear to be applied to all stores.
Although the Rite Aid location in Compton had almost all of its products under lock and key, the Santa Ana and Calabasas pharmacies had their products out on full display including cosmetics and other essentials as of Thursday.
In Beverly Hills, the Rite Aid store had some beauty products locked in shelves.
“Sometimes in the night, there are kids that come in here. They just get stuff, eat everything and just throw that stuff on the floor,” a shopper named Jose said.
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Other shoppers, who may be dissatisfied with the shopping experience from the locked shelves, said they understand the pharmacy chain’s policy.
“It doesn’t feel good in one way knowing that the crimes are high,” Sharona Rastegar said. But I understand, on the other hand. They need to manage (since ) anybody can go in and take whatever they want.”
In response to NBC Los Angeles’ reporting on locked products inside the Compton Rite Aid, the company said it’s seeing a “higher level of brazen shoplifting and organized retail crime.”
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“We are taking an active role in helping law enforcement in their pursuit of shoplifters as well as continuing our efforts to educate community leaders on the impact of retail theft and advocate for solutions,” the company said. "We apply multi-layer product protection solutions that are regularly assessed."
Rite Aid did not respond to the question whether the security changes were made only at specific stores.
