Raley’s checker and manager allow a shoplifter to walk out of the store with a huge bottle of booze – this is a public safety problem that needs to be addressed.

I had an experience at the Raley’s on Skyway yesterday that made me decide I won’t be shopping there anymore. I had a similar experience at Safeway a few years ago and have not shopped there since, even though that store was located an easy bike ride or walk from my house.

I’ve been shopping at Raley’s on Skyway for about 35 years. It’s more expensive, but traditionally their in-store brands are cheaper and they have always had good sales. Their produce has usually been better than the discount stores. For the last couple of years we’ve been taking advantage of their online coupons.

I won’t talk about the decline of customer service, that’s probably a matter of my own opinion. I won’t talk about their prices, which have always been higher than other stores. But what I saw yesterday is becoming a public safety problem.

As we moved toward the shortest checkout line, we noticed the man in front of us was pretty wildly dressed – he was wearing mismatched clothes, layered on, shorts over pants, etc, and he had a pile of clothing in his cart. He pushed his cart past the checker and began sorting his purchases, all mingled in the pile of clothes, out onto the counter. He handed the checker a plastic card. The checker ran the card and told the man it was no good. The man insisted he run the card again. No good again. My husband and I looked around the room, the other checkers had longer lines, so we stood patiently while the checker tried the card again. He finally called a manager over, and as the manager passed the customer’s cart, he dug into the pile of clothing, pulling out a huge bottle of what I would call Rotgut – cheap vodka with high alcohol content. “Have you paid for this …?” asked the manager. The man became defensive – “that’s mine, I brought that in here...” The bottle looked sealed from where I was standing, but the manager just placed it right back in the cart as he took the purchases that the man was not able to pay for – including more booze.

As the shoplifter left the store unhindered, my husband asked our checker, “so you’re not going to call the police, you’re just going to let that guy leave the store with that stolen bottle of vodka?”

The manager answered, saying they had no proof the man had stolen the bottle. Here’s what I think – the manager just didn’t want to be bothered. He knew he would have to hold the man in the store while he waited for cops who might not show up for hours. Then he would be convinced to drop the charges because he had no proof.

Here’s what I think Raley’s needs to do – they need to re-institute “floor walkers” as “risk management”. When they see people like this man come into the store with a cart full of stuff, they need to engage these people and watch them more closely. A polite “may I help you” would do alot to drive these serial shoplifters out of stores.

Instead they tack the cost of these crimes onto the price of your groceries. That’s the economic problem.

Here’s why it’s a public safety problem – when I witnessed a shoplifter stealing bottles of wine off the shelves at Safeway on Mangrove, he almost knocked my kids and I down trying to run out of the store. The manager gave pursuit, I felt like things were in control. But as I left Mangove Plaza with my purchases, there was the shoplifter, laying on the sidewalk next to Kwando, having polished off two big bottles of cheap wine, laying there in a puddle. The manager had just kicked him out of the store with the booze, didn’t even call the cops to escort him off the property.

“Drunk in public” is a crime. Shoplifting is a crime. Drunk driving is a crime – are you also aware, it’s illegal to ride your bike drunk. Why is Chico so soft on booze crimes?

Furthermore I’ll ask, why would a grocery store like Raley’s have such a hoooooooge booze section? Competing with Bev Mo? Maybe grocery stores shouldn’t be allowed to sell hard liquor?

Ask yourself why you put up with this stuff.