A CVS location in Washington, D.C., has taken an unusual approach to selling toilet paper and similar products amid rampant crime.
When customers stroll down the toilet paper aisle, the once fully-stocked shelves are now filled with framed pictures of the products they’re looking for and they must tap a buzzer to get a store employee to retrieve one from a safe location.
The unique solution started after homeless people began coming in the store and swiping the products without paying.
When asked by WTOP, locals pointed to inflation.
“First, I want to say this: this is not just an H street or a D.C. problem. This is something that’s going on all over the country, right?” said Ben Atanga, owner of a Maryland-based wellness studio.
“The economy is going up, cost of living is going up … If people are stealing … items, necessities, you know, I think maybe we should take a look at that,” Atanga added. “Maybe those are things that we don’t increase or maybe as a community we provide that … ‘Hey look, you can come pick up toiletries and stuff like that, so that you can take care of yourself’. H Street has always had a huge homeless population.”
According to Fox Business, reports of robbery in 2023 are up 68 percent from 2022, Metropolitan Police Department data show.
Due to the out of control crime, CVS in DC now doesn’t even keep merchandise on the shelves. Instead they just put photos of the items they have in stock. Dystopian pic.twitter.com/ppdanxhbr1
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) November 12, 2023
Last month, another CVS location in the nation’s capital made headlines for routinely having bare shelves because mobs of teens regularly raid the store for food and beverages, planning the heists around when new shipments arrive.