Elizabeth, Munno Para shopping centre retailers at wit’s end over youth shoplifting and gang brawls

Retailers in Adelaide’s north are revealing how how groups of kids work together to steal expensive items – and the tricks they watch out for.

Walking through a local shopping centre with a trolley full of groceries and a group of young kids, with backpacks and matching uniforms come running past.

“Camo got caught!” one loudly whispers to the others.

They gather around a cafe, attempting to look innocuous and innocent, despite half closed zippers showing goodies they might have forgotten to pay for.

One spots security and with a quick word to his friends, they all get up and run off to another end of the centre.

A shocking gang brawl erupted outside another entrance in November in which a young girl was viciously beaten by a group of other girls – as youths filmed – leading a nearby retailer to simply remark, “again?”

A social media video showing a girl being kicked, punched and dragged – while others watched and filmed, outside the Elizabeth Shopping Centre during Thursday night trading. Picture: Instagram

Northern suburbs retailers in major shopping centres have been plagued by a wave of young people who shoplift, brawl and engage in anti-social behaviour.

The groups of youths circulate around two centres just off Main North Rd, Elizabeth City Centre and Munno Para Shopping City, heading back and forth after being banned from one or the other.

One retail employee said that, after one mass brawl on a Thursday night, SAPOL’s police horse unit had been called in the following Thursday in case of a follow-up fight.

Multiple retailers and employees across both locations have told The Advertiser that Thursday night trading is a magnet for groups of disorderly youths, and have requested to remain anonymous to prevent reprisal and over fears of job losses.

“Late-night shopping on Thursdays is the worst of it,” a worker from an entertainment facility in the Elizabeth Shopping Centre said. “It drives customers away.”

Shoplifting cases don’t hurt the franchises, but the franchisee owners, who – despite owning stores of leading brands – are the ones who end up out-of-pocket.

A senior staff member at one of the Elizabeth centre chemists said it was the owners of individual locations who, at the end of the day, lost money.

“It costs us a lot … we are still a small business because we are a franchise, so we have to wear the costs of what gets stolen,” the employee said.

Munno Para Shopping City has been one of the main targets for the youths, despite security banning individuals from the location. Picture: Tom Huntley

“It’s not cheap stuff, the things we sell are not cheap, which is the stuff they target.”

The pattern of youths at each centre isn’t simultaneous. Retailers at Munno Para and Elizabeth believe they come in waves.

“They seem to move between Munno Para and here (Elizabeth),” one entertainment staff member said.

“Because they get banned from here, but you never known which kid is which and after some time they come back.”

A retailer in Munno Para believed close public transport links at both centres made it easier for groups to decide where to head – and allow quick getaways.

“It makes sense they go between both centres, especially with the entrances nearest the buses,

that’s where you find them most,” a Munno Para gift shop worker said.

“They come through riding scooters or bikes and security have to chase after them to try and get them to stop.”

One cafe employee said while waiting for buses, kids would sometimes come in to the cafe, sit at a table, pour out the salt and pepper shakers and make a run for it.

Retailers spoke of groups co-ordinating efforts to enter shops and obstruct staff to make it easier to slip items into their backpacks or into their clothes.

One chemist worker said girls came in to the store in groups of five or six, with one purpose.

“They stand at both ends of the aisle and one or two will shove things down their pants, or pass it to one another to shove down their pants,” the worker said.

Elizabeth City Centre, has been a hot spot for the most violent incidents, with SAPOL officers being deployed for patrols in recent months. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

“A few weeks ago we had a girl come in and take some (false) eyelashes, and a customer started to film her, and as she left she shoved the customer.

“But there isn’t anything we can do – we can’t touch them or ask them to hand it over unless we see it.”

But theft, dangerous indoor scooter riding and anti-social behaviour aren’t the biggest issue – sometimes all-out chaos breaks loose in the form of group brawls, which retailers say scare off customers and drive away sales.

In mid-November this year a video went viral of a savage beating outside the Elizabeth shopping centre, showing young girls and boys dragging, kicking and slamming a girl’s head into the concrete.

Workers from a restaurant nearby, who assisted security when the brawl broke out, said repeated similar fights had caught the attention of SAPOL.

“For a month or two, we had patrols here every single Thursday night and there was no trouble, and nowthey’re (the police) gone and it’s back,” a staff member said.

“There wasn’t those big groups of kids, they were intimidated.”

An entertainment venue worker said the recent brawl wasn’t the first out-of-control brawl.

They said SAPOL’s police horse unit had been deployed after a mass “gang” brawl outside the food court entrance just over six months ago.

When asked about patrols at the centre, a SAPOL spokesman said patrols were allocated based on crime trends and other information “to ensure the best utilisation of resources to keep the community safe”.

Two of the teenage girls seen in the brawl in November have been arrested following the incident, but retailers say it’s not the only time things have gotten violent. Picture: Instagram

“An assessment of police attendances and crime in and around the Elizabeth Shopping Centre (during the late-night shopping periods from 4pm onwards on Thursdays) has occurred for this year to date,” the spokesman said.

“There is no apparent increase of requests for police assistance or reported crime linked to either an increase or decrease in static police patrols at the centre and crime is significantly lower for the last five months.

“Elizabeth City Centre has security guards on site and SAPOL resources will of course be deployed if and when required.”

A spokesman for Vicinity Centres, which operates Elizabeth Shopping Centre, said “the safety of our visitors, retailers, teams and the wider community was always a top priority”.

“We have a strong working relationship with South Australia Police, including its visual presence to ensure we prevent any incidents where possible,” the spokesman said.

“We’re constantly adjusting the deployment of security resources and their presence around the centre.”

Most retailers remarked despite the occasional deployment of police officers after major incidents and the best efforts by security officers, it wasn’t enough.

“(Security) can’t do anything really, they can’t touch them or fine them or arrest them,” one retailer said.

The Munno Para Shopping City declined to comment.

Originally published as Elizabeth, Munno Para shopping centre retailers at wit’s end over youth shoplifting and gang brawls