BALTIMORE – Giant Food continues to look for ways to combat shoplifting.

On August 22, the grocery chain plans to introduce a new business policy that prohibits people under 18 from shopping after 6 p.m. without an adult accompanying them.

For now, the rules only affect select locations, two of which are in Baltimore.

• Store #145 – 5150 Sinclair Ln, Baltimore, MD 21206
• Store #303 – 601 East 33rd St. Baltimore, MD 21218

Giant says the selected stores have experienced “an unprecedented level of product theft that has become unsustainable for their business.”
The guidelines are similar to those in shopping centers and shopping areas in the region.

Giant also launched a pilot program in May that prohibits customers from carrying large bags while shopping. That program is still ongoing.

“Shoplifting in our market area affects everyone. It limits product availability, creates a less pleasant shopping experience and – worst of all – puts our employees and customers at risk,” Giant said in a statement.

In recent years, WMAR-2 News has reported on numerous violent incidents at Giant Food stores in Maryland, some of which were directly related to thefts.

Last June, an employee at the Arlington Road Giant in Bethesda was punched in the face by a man who tried to return stolen merchandise.

In November 2022, a Giant Food security guard in Oxon Hill was killed in a shootout with a theft suspect.

In July 2021, another security guard killed a man who attacked him at the Giant store in the Reisterstown Road Plaza.

Meanwhile, several Giant stores in the area have closed their doors, including the one that was the centerpiece of Edmondson Village since 1998. Other stores across the Baltimore County line in Wilkens Beltway Plaza have been remodeled.

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