Q&A
Role of retail theft in commercial vacancies and SBS initiatives to address challenges
1:17:17
ยท
7 min
Council Members Feliz and Farias discuss the impact of retail theft on commercial vacancies and ask about SBS initiatives to help businesses adapt. Commissioner Gross outlines various efforts to address these challenges.
- Retail theft is a citywide concern, addressed through SBS's emergency response unit and collaboration with Business Improvement Districts
- City Hall and NYPD are focused on the problem, implementing programs like the FUSUS camera program
- SBS provides emergency grants to help businesses recover from crime and vandalism
- The agency is working on long-term vision planning to help businesses adapt their operations and storefronts
- Collaboration with public safety agencies and industry partnerships is ongoing to share best practices and address emerging challenges
Oswald Feliz
1:17:17
And final question, and then I'll pass it on to council member Padadino.
1:17:21
To what extent is the issue of retail theft playing a role on the issue of vacancies?
1:17:27
I mean, it seems like retail stores are gone or will be gone, many for the most part.
1:17:34
So what role is that playing or we've seen play on that topic of vacancies?
Dynishal Gross
1:17:39
So we do, see complaints about retail theft citywide.
1:17:44
We respond, through our services of our emergency response unit.
1:17:50
We work closely with our business improvement districts that, you know, they people know them for the work that they provide, planting the tree pits and providing tree guards and doing district marketing and, you know, beautiful lighting events and other types of events.
1:18:04
But the bids provide supplemental security as well, and that is very important to addressing, retail theft issues.
1:18:12
I can say that city hall and the NYPD are very focused on the on the problem of retail theft.
1:18:19
There are many, multiple kind of groups convened and programs across the city to address this, including the FUSUS camera program and other programs under consideration.
1:18:31
I know even in the US Congress, you know, I panic buttons and and things of that nature.
1:18:37
So we try to connect business owners, to public safety officials to address those issues where we can to emergency, grants to help them recover from instances where they've been harmed by, crime, vandalism, and things of that nature.
1:18:55
And I think it'll continue to be a problem.
1:18:58
And it's a perception problem too.
1:19:00
You know, you may have one major incident on a corridor that makes the corridor feel unsafe for businesses that might have been considering locating there or businesses nearby.
1:19:10
So the administration is very focused on it.
1:19:13
I I think, deputy mayor Chauncey Parker is doing a fabulous job in the Every Block Counts initiative to really address those fears, that are created by, incidents of, retail theft and and public safety.
Amanda Farias
1:19:27
Sorry.
1:19:28
Just a quick, just to kind of back up follow-up from that question.
1:19:34
Has SBS thought of, like, long term vision planning, thought of looking at different ways or to create recommendations for small businesses that provide certain services in community that are seeing high rates of retail theft on how they could readapt their storefront or readapt their stores to better equip the the workers there.
1:19:54
I immediately think of, like, a Walgreens and a CVS where they are now locking up every product that they can, and that is just a short response or a small response that even still doesn't curb some of the retail theft that happens.
1:20:08
Are we looking as an agency to think help them reconfigure and rethink how they can remain within our corridors and our communities, with short burst fixes to their locations?
1:20:22
And I only ask this because what a lot of us already know and what we see happen in our communities is the local mom and pop, pharmacy, for example, will go out of business because you have 2 CVSs in proximity.
1:20:35
But those CVSs are or not to use CVS as the one example, but that type of larger catch all store then eliminates other mom and pop shops.
1:20:45
And when they're ready to leave because, you know, their 10% of their sales are being impacted by retail theft, and that isn't a line item in their operational budget.
1:20:56
They also then leave the community with no pharmacy and now no no pharmacy within their store, which is taking away jobs but also taking away accessibility to critical resources.
1:21:07
So I'm just wondering, are we even thinking larger scale and long term of how can we help people or how can we make recommendations to different folks on readapting their stores to stay within communities?
Dynishal Gross
1:21:19
Absolutely, council member.
1:21:21
We we've thought about that.
1:21:22
We've piloted programs.
1:21:24
We've done deep consultations with businesses focused on these issues.
1:21:28
We even provided, you know, a grant program a few years ago, Love Your Local, to try and keep legacy businesses and communities by considering what operational adaptations they would need to make and then providing implementation funding for them to do it.
1:21:43
It's hard to scale interventions that deep, and so we also need to think about ways of sharing the learnings about what works across networks.
1:21:52
Our industry partnerships are great for that.
1:21:55
But I think we'll need to have continued partnership with public safety agencies.
1:22:00
NYPD, community affairs is very focused on providing advisement for small businesses.
1:22:07
You know, they meet regularly, for example, with nightlife businesses to talk about emerging safety challenges.
1:22:12
This was prevalent post pandemic, and I went to, my first one of those meetings recently where they actually convene clubs and bar operators and and talk to them about how to work with their promoters, how to, you know, work with the precinct to notify them of upcoming events and otherwise plan and manage their security to create safety for the venue and for their clients.
1:22:35
I think what we're seeing now is that there are business owners and industries that didn't previously need security who are experiencing some impacts on their corridors, and they're trying to figure out how they can manage those costs.
1:22:48
I mean, it doesn't you know, seeing who's committing the crime doesn't stop it from happening.
1:22:53
So how do you how do you staff?
1:22:55
How do you set up, you know, the restaurant?
1:22:57
How do you manage the door?
1:23:00
So we're very focused on it, and I would say our small business advisory commission is amazing in sharing these concerns with us across industries.
1:23:09
So for example, you know, gift card and credit card fraud and how that is affecting small businesses, and then we can be in conversation with other partners, in the financial sector financial services sector about those those things happening on the ground here.
1:23:26
So partnership, and and I expect we'll need to continue working on these issues, in the year to come.
1:23:33
I'm excited about it.
1:23:35
And, hopefully, also, I'm working in partnership with the Merchants Association, the Bodega Association, the Superm like, we will also, problem solve with the input of those representatives.
1:23:46
Okay.
Amanda Farias
1:23:46
Great.
1:23:47
Thank you so much.
Oswald Feliz
1:23:48
Thank you.
1:23:48
Thank you so much.
1:23:49
Yeah.
1:23:49
Great point.
1:23:51
And, yeah, that that might be another big reason why we're seeing a lot of the bigger stores take over on many different, different matters or products that people sell.
1:23:59
I mean, just imagine the smaller stores having to worry about issues related to retail theft.
1:24:04
Right?
1:24:04
Not having the products to stay how how are they gonna stay alive?
1:24:07
Or, equally important, having to spend additional monies to, for example, higher security.
1:24:13
I've been seeing security guards in stores that, you know, in 30 plus years, I had never seen.
1:24:18
AutoZone and those types of businesses.
UNKNOWN
1:24:20
Mhmm.
1:24:20
So I
Oswald Feliz
1:24:21
just want to, you know, interesting to analyze the role that that's playing, the the costs that come with retail theft.
1:24:27
So I'll pass it on to council member Paladino.