Some business owners in Atascadero say retail theft is an ongoing problem.
“Once a week, that we would know of. My vendors would come to me all the time and say that things had been stolen out of their space,” said Hope Chest Emporium owner Karen McNamara.
Atascadero police say the department has received 20 theft reports since October of 2024.
McNamara rents out a 6,000 square-foot store on El Camino Real to independent vendors, who pay anywhere from $50 to $300 a month to sell at her store.
“I would guess that we probably lose somewhere total or $500 a mont, but that doesn't seem like a lot, but when you're an individual vendor that loses $100 items and you're, you know, you're supposed to pay your space rent of $300 a month, that's a lot,” McNamara said.
That’s why she now has security cameras in every room and posts surveillance photos of people she says stole from her shop.
“We have the Wall of Shame and honestly, I wish we didn't have it, but if we don't bring to people's attention that if you steal, we're probably going to catch you, then we just open the door for more and more people to come and steal,” McNamara said. “And unfortunately, because we have so much theft, we have to have cameras. And we've posted three times on social media actual videotape of people actually stealing items and it's more a warning to other people that if you come here, you'll be caught.”
Dale Fisher has also dealt with thieves at his boutique and wellness store, Dewy Rose, in downtown Atascadero.
“It would happen on off and on, mostly with the ah, gummies, and things like that or little trinket things would end up disappearing to certain people because we were trying to run a store where we had to go back, make coffees and weren't able to watch the front at times,” Fisher said.
He says he now has security cameras in place.
“We just didn't think it was going to be an issue until it was an issue,” Fisher said.
He says if it becomes a long-term problem, he’s willing to lock up merchandise.
“We just put it under lock and key and then, you know, they'd have to ask for it and then we can hand it out,” Fisher said.
Atascadero Police Chief Dan Suttles encourages store owners to install surveillance cameras inside and outside their stores.
