Industry | 2009.11.10
Meet the middle-class shoplifters
Britons steal more from stores than anyone else in Europe. And now the more affluent among us have got the habit
Britain is no longer a nation of shopkeepers. According to the Centre for Retail Research we have become instead a nation of shoplifters. In the 12 months to June this year, customers stole almost £5bn of goods – more than in any other European country. The survey of 42,000 retailers across Europe showed British shoplifting had increased by 20% since 2008 – apparently driven by affluent consumers desperate not to lose their lifestyles in the recession. But if shoplifting has become a middle-class pursuit, would anyone admit to it in the respectable refuge of John Lewis\'s flagship store in Oxford Street, London?
"When I was eight, I went to Woolworths and stole a little bottle of perfume. I felt really guilty – and I didn\'t need it or want it. I would never do it again." 66-year-old woman, retired
"I stole cigarettes from my dad\'s shop when I was younger and couldn\'t buy them. But I have never stolen from anyone else." 24-year-old woman who works in private healthcare and in a phone shop
"I have a friend who would take her old clothes into Topshop and swap them on the hanger for new ones. She never got caught but, once, the alarm went off. She didn\'t look like a shoplifter so she got away with it. I once went into Sainsbury\'s and ate a salad from the salad bar without paying." 18-year-old female gap year student
"We used to steal apples from the orchard, and potatoes from the front of the shop when we were hungry. That was back in Ireland in the 1930s." 78-year-old man from Upminster, Essex
"I stole some Opal Fruits when I was 12, but I felt so guilty I took them back. It was just for the excitement and to do something naughty. What would I be tempted by now? I\'m looking for a cooker today, so that would be difficult. But I do hate buying bottles of water, and toilet rolls would be easy to just put in your trolley without paying." 35-year-old male art director
"I got caught stealing sweets when I was nine. I remember being afraid of what my parents would say. When I was 13 I tried it again and was riddled with guilt for days. It was a pair of jeans from a denim shop. I\'m far more respectable now." 53-year-old male banker
"I am too goody-goody to steal. Only the really naughty girls at my school did that." 34-year-old female commissioning editor for a TV station
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/nov/11/middle-class-shoplifters
