The proprietor of a Queens retailer positioned inside 13 blocks of 17 migrant shelters says his enterprise “gained’t survive” the rampant shoplifting it has needed to endure since their arrival.
Chris Sciacco, the proprietor of Kaiya’s Pallets at 36-37 thirty first St. in Lengthy Island Metropolis, informed The Submit his retailer is focused as many as six occasions per week by migrant thieves.
“It’s not truthful that these folks can come into my retailer and steal willy-nilly and nothing will get achieved about it,” stated Sciacco.
His selection retailer is a one-stop store for meals, clothes, electronics and staples similar to diapers at wholesale costs — and that might be the explanation it’s focused extra typically than different retail shops within the nabe. It’s now bleeding at the very least $3,000 a month, Sciacco stated.
“It’s affecting the enterprise and affecting our overhead,” he stated, including, “I don’t know if we will proceed to outlive at this price.”
And if it continues, Sciacco stated: “I’m going to cancel my lease. I’m barely getting by. I don’t see how I can proceed at this price.”
The 4,500-square-foot retailer opened in 2021 and in its first 12 months in enterprise, they solely noticed three thefts – two of which gave the impression to be homeless individuals who stole a sweet bar or two, Sciacco stated.
However for the reason that shelters opened previously two years, it’s been virtually on daily basis – and “small stuff and enormous stuff” is repeatedly taken, stated Sciacco, who pointed to a trio of examples in simply the previous two weeks.
- On Tuesday, a person opened a field containing three bottles of Rogaine, pocketed the bottles – which value $50 complete – and discarded the empty field on one other shelf earlier than operating out.
- One other thief grabbed a bag of youngsters’s underwear this week, pilfered half the pairs and left the half-empty bag, which was to be bought in bulk, again on the shelf.
- Video surveillance from July 11 reveals a person sauntering inside the shop’s entrance round 11:30 a.m., then openly strolling out with a complete pallet of Gatorade lower than a minute later.
Within the hours following the Gatorade theft, “I referred to as [the NYPD] 6 occasions, waited over 8 hours and never one cop confirmed as much as assist me,” Sciacco claimed.
“I additionally tried to flag down over 30 cop vehicles on the road and never one stopped to assist me and even see what was fallacious,” he seethed.
And Sciacco stated he’s referred to as the NYPD at the very least a dozen occasions over the previous 12 months when he’s noticed a thief in his retailer – however claimed none have proven as much as examine, nor have officers adopted up on any of the three theft reviews he’s filed with the 114th Precinct.
When he stated he reported the latest theft in-person on the precinct, an officer allegedly informed Sciacco, “‘Effectively, you must rent safety.’
“So I defined to [the cop], I’m a one-man band attempting to make it on this costly metropolis – I’m not an organization that may afford to spend cash on these forms of hires or I’ll exit of enterprise,” he stated.
The thieves have additionally compelled Sciacco to vary how he does enterprise.
For instance, “We needed to begin placing the underwear free over right here,” he stated, and motioned to a bin stuffed with males’s boxers, which Sciacco began promoting individually for $1 as a substitute of in bulk as a result of it was getting stolen at the very least as soon as a month.
“The one technique to fight the theft and the lack of the entire thing, is by placing [it] free and retaining it in eyeshot, hoping folks gained’t steal one [pair] of underwear for $1,” he defined.
With no finish to the rampant theft in sight, Sciacco not too long ago began a “Wall of Disgrace” the place he posts pictures of thieves and notes what they stole.
“It simply goes to indicate that, frankly, folks don’t care anymore,” stated retailer supervisor Bobby Valiente, who confirmed The Submit the baseball bat he’s now retaining behind the money register simply in case — however, fortunately, has by no means had to make use of.
As of Friday, there have been a dozen perpetrators featured on the public-facing wall.
The NYPD didn’t return a request for remark.
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