Warehouse's Okara shop highest hit by shoplifters

Brazen thieves walked out of The Warehouse with two bicycles. Photo / John Stone

Everyone gets a bargain but none more so than brazen thieves who walked out of The Warehouse with two bicycles in the middle of a busy trading time.

The incident formed part of a recent spate of shoplifting incidents at Okara Shopping Centre.

Shoplifting costs each Northland household about $675 a year - and the country $1.2 billion annually - and is a major concern for retailers still recovering from the global financial crisis.

Acting Senior Sergeant Darren Sullivan said The Warehouse in Whangarei was a particularly common target for thieves, with the bikes stolen at 6pm last Thursday.

The Advocate understands The Warehouse's Okara branch was the most shoplifted from store of the company's 92 nationwide.

"From a police perspective, we've tried to put measures in place to work with them in respect to their environment and make it more difficult for the offenders to walk out of the store with items," Mr Sullivan said. "From a police and community perspective it's a major problem."

Police recorded 839 shoplifting cases in Northland last year, with 476 resolved. In the day before the bike thefts, police visited The Warehouse twice after several pairs of shoes were stolen. A woman also stole alcohol from Countdown Okara just before 7pm on Thursday night.

"[Okara] has been one of our hot spots ... it's causing those store owners and police a lot of extra work," Mr Sullivan said.

The Warehouse spokeswoman Sarah Leaning said shoplifting was simply an unfortunate part of the retail industry. She refused to comment on the most recent spate of incidents, as they were under police investigation. "We have dedicated staff within stores who assist in providing a safe shopping and working environment."

Retail New Zealand general manager of public affairs Greg Hartford said shoplifting was often incorrectly viewed as a "victimless crime".

Shoplifting cost the New Zealand retail sector $1.2 billion a year " 1.6 per cent of the annual retail spend of $75 billion and each household paid about $675 more for retail good each year because of shoplifting, Mr Hartford said.

"It certainly has an impact on prices because retailers need to cover those losses. Effectively, the costs of it is passed on to law-abiding citizens. Retailers don't have a lot of power to do anything short of issuing a trespass and calling the police," he said.

Northland Chamber of commerce chief executive Tony Collins said shoplifting was of particular concern in a region where retailers were already facing a difficult market and spikes like the one at Okara occasionally cropped up.

Police were continually talking with retailers around how they could reduce risk, Mr Collins said. "That would be around where merchandise is placed, where the valuable stuff is. If you've got really good attentive staff on the floor you're less likely to get shoplifting."