High street health and wellness retailer Holland & Barrett has deployed undercover detectives in stores to fight against shoplifting and violence.
The retailer has privately funded plain-clothes detectives in certain stores where crime is most rampant.
The idea is to keep customers and staff safe, with chief executive Anthony Houghton saying that the behaviour on the high street is “just not acceptable”.
He told The Times: “It’s awful that we have to do this.”
Among the most frequently stolen products includes Manuka honey due to its size and price, while the sports nutrition range is also attractive to thieves looking to sell elsewhere.
Holland & Barrett has also been working with Auror, which specialises in retail crime intelligence, to help track shoplifting and identify repeat offenders in high risk stores.
Houghton added: “We’ve obviously got colleagues that have bodycams in-store, we’ve put cameras in-store… we’ve got 10,000 colleagues, we have to look after them.”
He added that staff go to work to help customers, so it is “never nice” for them to face “aggression, abuse or people shouting”.
In a report in September, the retailer referenced the rise in crime and violence, citing a “shift in in-store behaviour, including a rise in incidents directed at colleagues”.
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