SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) - Witnesses say a woman seen on cellphone video threw a fit in the parking lot of the Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco after she was caught shoplifting at a store known as the Pop Up Shop.
Not only is the shop brand new, and just trying to get its feet off the ground but it's a black-owned business that only carries brands from new, local entrepreneurs in the city.
Employees there say they watched the woman put several items, including a bathing suit, in her bag.
"It's just disappointing because these are all up and coming new businesses and they really can't afford to have items stolen. I mean 4 or 5 items can change the trajectory of their business. It's just unfortunate," Richard Bougere said.
Richard Bougere, who's a popular Bay Area rapper known as "Big Rich" recently opened the Pop Up Shop with his wife Danielle Banks to give local aspiring fashion designers and brand owners a permanent platform to sell their products.
"Pop Up shop is like an incubator for young and old. It's new businesses that are trying to become more than an online presence and have regular pop-ups at vendor markets and stuff like that," Bougere said.
In a store like this, they say theft has a large ripple effect on others.
"When you're taking from somebody, you're really taking from what they've been trying to build. They're trying to invest in their kids. Some of the brands are mother and child owned," Danielle Banks said.
Other pieces in the store were made by artists like Bianca who's just 13-years-old. And others like Akeem Diaz who also witnessed the theft.
"I get we're in the middle of a pandemic, and I get that people are going through financial crises you know with the wealth gap continuing to widen. But she wasn't in there stealing necessities. She was trying to steal to get cute," Akeem Diaz said.
"I don't condone it. It's not cool. There's other ways to get your money. Build your own business. Come to the pop-up shop. Put your business in our store and maybe you won't have to what we call BIP it in our city. Maybe you won't have to BIP it as much," Bougere said.
Thankfully they were able to get the stolen items back, but they say they more so wanted to share their story to highlight the impact of these rampant thefts in the city.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/3eLVp1w
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