Local shops lost £316m to retail crime in 2024

Retail crime has cost retailers an estimated £316m over the past year, the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has revealed.

Its latest 2025 Crime Report found that shop theft has reached a record high, with local shops reporting an estimated 6.2m incidents in 2024, up from 5.6m the previous year.

These findings would “not surprise our members who are living it on a daily basis,” said James Lowman, ACS chief executive.

Retailers poured over £265m into crime prevention and detection measures to protect employees, stock and customers.

Taken together, the cost of crime and investment in crime prevention amount to a 10p ‘crime tax’ on every transaction in a convenience store, the ACS said.

There were over 59,000 estimated incidents of violence over the last year and 1.2m incidents of verbal abuse, the report found.

Nisa retailer Amit Puntambekar was attacked and injured when he attempted to challenge a thief and has been dealing with violent threats for months. Speaking in the report, he said: “When your staff are threatened with a hammer, when someone threatens to kill you who lives near your shop and the police don’t take it seriously, what’s the point?”

Meanwhile, Vince Malone, owner of Tenby Stores & Post Office, was attacked after confronting a shoplifter.

The report also found that 59% of retailers believe organised crime incidents have increased over the last year.

It comes as parliament considers the Crime and Policing Bill at the Second Reading stage today (10th March). The Bill sets out new measures aimed at tackling shop theft and anti-social behaviour.

“Criminals targeting local shops without fear of reproach cannot be allowed to continue, which is why we’re fully supportive of the Government’s Crime and Policing Bill. In our Crime Report, we have set out ways that retailers and the police have made a positive difference, putting in place strategies that work to keep retailers and their colleagues safer, and we need stronger legislation to back that up.

”This must be the moment we commit to ending the retail crime crisis, through Government, police and retailers working together,” commented Lowman.