Based Underground is now a conservative news aggregator AND curated newsletter.
(Natural News)—Fed up with the rampant smash-and-grab looting problem throughout the region, retail stores in the Bay Area of northern California are retrofitting their operations to create a more prison-like shopping experience.
At Fredericksen’s Hardware & Paint in San Francisco, store owners now require shoppers to be accompanied by an employee to prevent thefts. Upon entering the store, customers immediately encounter a table barricade with signs strewn atop telling them to “please wait for assistance.”
“Due to the rampant shoplifting, Fredericksen’s has introduced a One-on-One shopping experience,” a sign on the table reads, preventing customers from going any further into the store until an employee arrives.
“Wait here and a clerk will be right with you to help you with all your shopping needs. We’re sorry for the inconvenience!”
Store manager Sam Black told local media that it had gotten “pretty bad” at the store in terms of the sheer volume of products being stolen on a regular basis.
“The dollar amounts are pretty significant with the tools,” Black explained while wearing a Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) “dust” mask over his nose and mouth.
“And now we’re getting smash-and-grabs where they come in and take whole displays, so it’s getting kind of dangerous for the employees and the customers.”
For two hours every morning and two hours every evening before closing time, Fredericksen’s customers have to be accompanied by an employee while browsing the store, otherwise they will be asked to leave.
“We just want to make it uncomfortable for the thieves so they go somewhere else,” Black added about the new precautionary measures.
UNREAL. This store in San Francisco now has a barrier when you walk in and shoppers need to be accompanied by staff as they shop through the store because crime has got so bad.
Welcome to @GavinNewsom’s California pic.twitter.com/c2bixYEUbO
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 25, 2024
(Related: Last year, Whole Foods Market left downtown San Francisco entirely, just one year after opening a store there, because rampant crime made the location unprofitable and dangerous for employees.)
San Francisco city leaders, police do nothing to stop crime
In addition to erecting table barriers at the entrance, Fredericksen’s has also begun drilling items into the wall or display tables to keep thieves from nabbing them. Security locks have also been attached to some of the more expensive items in the store.
As you might expect, regulars who shop at Fredericksen’s are unhappy about the prison-like shopping experience.
“Yeah, people aren’t happy,” Black says. “The regulars, they just can’t believe it. We can’t believe it, but they’ve been really understanding.”
Unfortunately for Fredericksen’s and other local retailers, nobody in city leadership in San Francisco, including the local police department, is willing to do a thing to try to stop all the rampant crime. This is why stores are now having to take matters into their own hands.
The one-on-one shopping experience at Fredericksen’s is a pilot program that has been going on for several weeks now. After a month, the store’s leadership will evaluate its effectiveness and decide what to do from there.
“We just had to do something,” Black explained.
Local media tried to reach out to Supervisor Catherine Stefani, who oversees the Cow Hollow neighborhood of San Francisco where Fredericksen’s is located, but she did not respond to requests for comment about the matter.
“California public safety is in crisis,” said Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco at a recent press conference.
“This is not by accident. A radical, progressive agenda has turned law enforcement into the bad guy and criminals into victims, leading to one of the worst public safety policies in the nation.”
American society is descending into lawlessness at an astounding rate. Learn more at Collapse.news.
Sources for this article include:
‘Merely Coincidental’: Secular Scientist Work Overtime to Explain Away the Miracles of Christ
by Harbingers Daily
Was the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with just five loaves and two fish a little less than miraculous? Well, that’s what a group of scientists are claiming in a recent paper published in a scientific journal. Instead of a supernatural provision by the Lord, they claim the feeding…
Google Hosts Party for Democratic Operatives Plotting To ‘Resist the Republican Agenda’
by Free Beacon
The resistance’s bar tab is on Google. Priorities USA, a top Democratic super PAC with an affiliated dark money group, is convening a summit of left-wing digital activists on Wednesday afternoon to deliver a post-mortem on Vice President Kamala Harris’s election loss and strategize how to “resist the Republican agenda,”…
“The Correction Before the Surge”: Why Gold and Silver’s Future Is Brighter Than Ever
by Sponsored Post
It was long overdue by most estimates. Precious metals prices have been steadily rising for far longer than even the …
Ukraine Denies Reports From Think Tank That It Is Months Away From Developing a Nuclear Weapon
by Natural News
Ukraine has denied reports suggesting it could develop a nuclear weapon soon, following claims by a Ukrainian military think tank. The report, published by the Ukrainian think tank and nongovernmental organization the Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies, claimed that Kyiv could use spent nuclear fuel from its remaining…
Alex Jones Reveals Elon Musk Saved Infowars From Being Sold to The Onion
by End Times Headlines
Alex Jones has declared ‘the cavalry is here’ as attorneys for Elon Musk’s X jumped in to help put a temporary pause on the sale of his controversial Infowars to The Onion. The satirical news publication said the bid was sanctioned by the families of Sandy Hook Elementary victims who…
FBI Whistleblower Says FBI Intentionally Blocking Security Clearances for Trump Officials
by The Conservative Treehouse
It should not come as a surprise to see the same methods deployed against President Trump in 2024 that were used by the FBI in 2016. The difference is now that President Trump understands the full power of his office in the security clearance process and that he doesn’t need…
Pastor Greg Locke Burns Voodoo Doll He Claims Was Found on His Property
by End Times Headlines
Even amid ongoing warfare, we are called to stand firm on the Word of God. Pastor Greg Locke knows well the spiritual and physical attacks directed at him; he was recently targeted by a gunman. Now, he faces another spiritual assault, this time from someone attempting to place a curse…
Trump’s Incoming FCC Chief Already Putting Target on Big Tech ‘Censorship Cartel’
by WND
Social media companies have become a “cartel” for suppressing information with which they disagree, and that agenda now is going to be getting the attention of Brendan Carr, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. It was social media companies who played a role…
Sabotage: Two Undersea Internet Cables Connecting Four NATO Nations Were Severed
by Publius
Many in the international community are claiming sabotage as the only viable explanation for two fiber optic internet cables in the Baltic Sea being severed less than 24-hours apart. Fingers are being pointed at Russia as one of the the cables connected NATO nations Germany and Finland. The latter was…
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Orders Democrats to Immediately End Counting of Illegal Ballots
by Infowars
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday ordered Democrats in several counties to immediately halt their unlawful counting of illegal ballots in the Senate race recount. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court had ruled before the election that mail-in ballots lacking formally required signatures or dates should not be included in official results….
22-Year-Old Woman With Depression Was Almost Euthanized, She Changed Her Mind Right Before She Was Killed
by Life News
Why do you oppose euthanasia, Wesley? If people want to die, we should help them die. No. And here’s an individual example explaining just one reason why. A deeply depressed woman was about to be lethally injected in the Netherlands — but changed her mind just in the nick of…
“Massive Breach”: T-Mobile Network Hacked by Chinese State Sponsored Intelligence
by Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge
(Zero Hedge)—Where’s John Legere in a pink t-shirt when you need him? Among the multiple stories over the last few weeks about Chinese intelligence and hackers either attempting to, or outright gaining access, to U.S. cell phone networks (with reports stating President Trump and his team were targeted), comes news…
Trump’s Idea to Shut Down Department of Education Gets High Five From Top Christian Evangelist
by WND
A priority for the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump is to tackle the Deep State, the bureaucracy in Washington that is a self-perpetuating industry, to find what American taxpayers don’t need or want. And get rid of it. One of the targets he’s already identified is the Department of…
Experts Sound Alarm Over ‘Shocking’ Spike in Strokes Among ‘Healthy’ Young People
by Slay News
Health experts have issued a chilling warning to the public over a “shocking” spike in strokes among “healthy” young people. The “alarming” surge was identified in official UK government data. The data shows that recorded cases of deadly strokes skyrocketed in 2023 and continued soaring this year. In 2023/24, the…
