Thief uses blowtorch to break into skin care cabinet at a NYC Walgreens

Around 2:30 pm on Thursday, a thief used a blowtorch to break into a locked case in a Queens, New York, Walgreens to steal $448 worth of skin care products from the store. 

The video posted to social media shows the man torching one of the plastic bins holding the merchandise at the 93-12 Astoria Blvd store, melting it enough so it opens. He then stuffed the items from the compartment into his bag and casually walked out, while a store full of people stood around filming the brazen act. The suspect has yet to be arrested.

Retail theft has plagued the country in recent years. In 2022, shoplifting incidents in New York City went up 45 percent, with 63,000 incidents. According to NYPYD stats posted by the Crime in NYC account on Twitter, shoplifting has grown 77 percent in the last five years in the city. 

A study by the National Retail Federation said that about 75 percent of Americans have to shop at stores where products are locked in cabinets. 

Walgreens and other retail stores have resorted to placing many items behind locked cabinets. In Chicago, the chain is redesigning its retail space so employees gather customers' orders, with only two aisles being open for browsing.

Walgreens is one of many stores that have decided to shut stores down due to crime in the area when they closed five stores in San Francisco in 2021. AT&T, Nordstrom, and T-Mobile have all joined them since. Walmart, Cracker Barrel, and outdoor clothing brand REI have closed stores in Portland due to high theft rates.