With retail theft on the rise, Montreal store owner posts thefts online

A Montreal shop owner is turning to the public and posting video footage of thefts in her store online to help locate alleged thieves.

Retail theft is on the rise across Canada, and a store downtown Montreal is turning to the public to help track down culprits by posting videos of the alleged thefts online.

Editorial Boutique co-founder Winnie Wong says her cameras caught a $530 Ralph Lauren sweater being stolen in broad daylight. It’s one example of items a shoplifter stole.

“It happened last week. It was a couple that came in,” said Wong.

The footage shows a man putting clothes inside a shopping bag being held by a woman. Wong said the pair left without paying.

She reported the theft to police, but then took another step.

“You feel really violated as a small business owner, and, immediately, we knew that we wanted to post this and share this online,” she said.

She posts videos of alleged shoplifters on social media as she’s frustrated at this happening repeatedly.

“This is clearly becoming an issue where it’s like professionals now because we have alarm systems in place,” said Wong.

Retail theft is on the rise across Canada.

Between 2018 and 2024, annual losses from businesses nearly doubled from $5 billion to $9 billion, according to the Retail Council of Canada.

“It’s supply and demand,” said Retail Council of Canada executive advisor Rui Rodrigues. “If people are online looking for a good deal, you have organized criminals who are sending people to shop for those items, steal those items to bring you back to them so they can resell online.”

He says people are stealing in bigger volumes and, in some cases, use violence.

“What we’ve seen is the criminals who are brazen, and the organized retail crime groups take advantage of our being soft on crime in Canada because there’s very few prosecutions for shoplifting. People don’t serve real jail time,” he said.

The Retail Council of Canada says the system needs to change.

Wong says she’s out more than $2,000 and is calling on the public for help, offering a cash prize for anyone who can identify the couple and help bring them to justice.