Thrifty Beaches owner chases down shoplifters
Adam Kemp owns Thrifty Beaches Headquarters in Downtown San Luis Obispo, and is regularly left to deal with incidents of theft in his store.
“We actually had a theft about two hours ago, and it was super unexpected too,” Kemp said. “This girl just picked up a $100 hoodie and walked right out the door, and the thing went off.”
On multiple occasions, Kemp says he’s had to chase down people who steal from his business to get his items back. He records and posts videos of himself chasing down the people who stole on his Instagram page.
“I have a lot of energy to do things, and be creative, but once someone steals, like, it just zaps my energy for the day,” Kemp said. “Like, I feel tired now, because it took so much just like processing the energy to understand how someone could be that bold to do something like that.”
Communications and political science sophomore Ava Jimmerson is a frequent Thrifty Beaches shopper, and she expressed disappointment in the community members who steal from the store.
“It is a very welcoming space, so the fact that people are trying to take advantage of that is crazy,” Jimmerson said. “I love to see that Adam, as an owner, works hard to nonviolently get his stuff back and go that extra mile to not call the police at first.”
Kemp feels like his business is disrespected when people come to steal, but said that it won’t stop him from growing Thrifty Beaches.
“There’s so many people that say you know, ‘he’s a small business,’ like they say ‘he’s not a corporation,’ like ‘if it’s a corporation, it’s ok,’” Kemp said. “But, I think people shouldn’t steal, period.”
Moving forward, Kemp plans on continuing to protect his business from thieves using a new technology
“A company reached out to me for facial recognition software that they’re going to install in our building because we do have a long-term lease, so we’re going to retrofit the building with facial recognition software,” Kemp said. “So, if we ban someone, you can ban their face from coming in the store, and the moment that does, I’d like to be notified.”
As his business grows, Kemp says he will continue to fight back against petty theft in his store.
“As we do these big jumps, we’ll also know now that stealing is such a big, you know, issue, and we’ll be ready for it even when we do our next big jump,” Kemp said.
