Sydney store owner James Yu has ‘Wall of Shame’ for shoplifters caught on CCTV
VIDEO: They’re the petty thefts, acts of drunken stupidity and sometimes downright disgusting deeds caught on camera by a Sydney shop owner in a bid to name and shame people into better behaviour — and he claims his unique method is working.
Manly
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THEY’RE the petty thefts, acts of drunken stupidity and sometimes downright disgusting deeds caught on camera that are now being used to name and shame Manly night dwellers into better behaviour.
Whether it be an 11.15pm crave for a Golden Gaytime ice cream that ends in the theft of the store’s clock or the use of a roll-on deodorant before returning it to its shelf, one vigilante shopkeeper has had enough.
James Yu, who owns the Beach Mart on North Steyne in Manly, said he got sick and tired of losing money and decided to name and shame the shoplifters.
“I have seen other retailers do it and they report a huge loss in theft,” he said. “The police are doing a really good job but they’re busy and they can’t get to every single case in a short time frame.
“So I thought I would be proactive about it and perhaps help them try to identify some of these perpetrators.”
One piece of CCTV footage given to the Manly Daily shows one woman who enters the store, makes eye contact with Mr Yu then takes some chewing gum before walking out without paying.
Another shows three men enter the store and one use a roll-on deodorant before putting it back on the shelf while his mates distract Mr Yu.
And then there’s the drunken group that first attempt to take a large amount of Golden Gaytimes from the ice cream refrigerator.
When they are stopped they take a large amount of time to pay for the snacks while one of the group pockets a clock sitting on the counter.
Mr Yu said he had about a 50 per cent success rate within three months of catching people once he posted CCTV footage on his shop wall of the alleged deeds being done.
The thefts are generally at the lower end of the spectrum and include using roll-on deodorants and stealing lollies. He warned any would-be shoplifters to think about the consequences
These are just three of the dozens of acts that have made Mr Yu’s wall of shame in the last three months. Others include stealing razor blades and lollipops.
“I find that most of the people who shoplift are actually young people who don’t need to shoplift,” he said.
“It is what I would call impulse shoplifters. My advice is don’t do it, if you get caught you get a black mark on your record, police will issue you with a $300 ticket and it could affect your job prospects in the future.”
He said most people were well dressed in the pictures and appeared to be stealing “more for kicks rather than the need”.
Mr Yu said he liked to try to add a bit of humour, often including speech bubbles above some of the culprits’ heads.
“It makes it a little bit entertaining for other people to see, and part of the reason for doing this was to make it a little embarrassing,” he said.
“If they are going to steal something and get caught people are going to laugh at them.”