Nordstrom, Louis Vuitton, Lacoste, Prada, The North Face, Tory Burch, and dozens of other luxury brands were hit in recent burglaries in Southern California. According to the Los Angeles Times, Nordstrom and Louis Vuitton alone lost an estimated $150,000 in merchandise and were targeted for possible “premeditated thefts of designer goods,” which the store’s CEO had warned to expect “whenever they choose to put down roots in Southern California.” At least 50 burglaries have been reported in California’s Riverside and San Bernardino counties since the beginning of 2018, which the newspaper called “one of the highest totals” of luxury store thefts in Los Angeles County.
Some areas of Los Angeles have experienced a surge in the burglaries because of changes in zoning that made it easier for burglars to find places to enter. In one instance, thieves entered the Angeles National Forest, about 20 miles west of Los Angeles, which allowed them to walk out the back of the businesses, empty it of merchandise, and hike off the mountain without being discovered. In a similar incident last month, thieves reportedly targeted a department store in San Diego. The brazen heists have prompted high-end retailers to revise their security procedures, but some are worried that these changes may inadvertently make the target stores easier to steal from. “For these luxury companies, the data that’s being stolen is detailed and significant,” said Ken Bernstein, the district attorney for Los Angeles County. “But I think just knowing that they are being targeted is part of the problem. Because it isn’t getting the attention it deserves.”
Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times.
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