The store is a sign of an endemic challenge for retailers: how to stop theft without shrinking profits or inconveniencing shoppers. Retailers have long dealt with theft, and frequency is down from a peak last winter for some, said retail executives. But theft attempt levels are higher than they were before the pandemic.

Many large retailers, including Home Depot Inc., have been locking up more items while testing other solutions. They track high-risk goods and lock up items in regions or stores being hit hardest, retail executives say. Best Buy BBY 0.01%▲ says it isn’t locking up more items overall than in the past, but continues to do so where needed.

It is a tactic that risks annoying customers and investors. In July a Best Buy analyst recommended selling the company’s stock after he observed conditions in dozens of stores and found items locked up or missing from shelves.

“Putting products in cages certainly deters theft, but it probably hinders sales,” said R5 Capital CEO Scott Mushkin in the report titled “Heartbreaking.” Some stores, like one in Danbury, Conn., were in good shape, said the report, while others were messy or didn’t have enough items easily available for shoppers to buy.

(via the Free Beacon)