Thefts in Arizona force business owner to change mask policy at shops
A Scottsdale shop in Arizona is changing its mask policy after thieves stole products while using masks to conceal their faces.
By Brittni Thomason
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SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (KTVK, KPHO) — Ann Siner is the CEO and founder of My Sister’s Closet, My Sister’s Attic and Well Suited. She says her stores got hit by thieves two days this week.
Watching her surveillance video, she noticed most of the people taking stuff wore masks. To identify thieves, she is putting a new policy in place at her stores starting Friday.
“We are going to ask people who want to want to shop with their masks on to stop at the entrance, where we have a camera, pull their mask down for a minute, so if they want to shoplift later, we have a full picture of their face,” said Siner.
Watching her surveillance video, she noticed most of the people taking stuff wore masks.
Siner said surveillance video from Tuesday shows two masked people at her Pinnacle Peak store looking around before walking out with clothes they did not pay for. “It’s very bold, but if you look around the store, it is pretty busy all the time, and they just pose as customers needing help, or they just come in and grab a bunch of stuff and run out,” said Siner.
On Sunday, the small business owner says thousands of dollars worth of purses were also stolen at her Lincoln Village Store.
She said it happened after one of her employees unlocked a case for someone who asked to see a designer bag. “She unlocked the case,” said Siner. “He looked at the bag, and he said, ‘Oh, I need to show my wife.’ He started to walk away, and she followed him, but she forgot to lock and close the case.”
That’s when Siner said a masked man nearby grabbed bags out of the case and walked out the door. “Our price on the bags was $3000,” said Siner. “Retail is probably $15,000 worth of designer bags.”
Now she’s beefing up security at her shops by bringing in off-duty officers through the weekend. “We want to say zero tolerance for bad behavior,” said Siner. “…we are offering a $5000 reward for anyone that has information that leads to the arrest and conviction of either incident here in Scottsdale and here in North Scottsdale.”
Scottsdale Police Department says they are investigating the thefts.
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