Target’s sales and customer traffic rebounded this week after the company closed crime-hit stores, a move sources told The Post suggests more retailers may begin closing stores over shoplifting.

The “Cheap Chic” discount retailer reported earnings and sales that beat Wall Street forecasts on Wednesday as discounts lured inflation-stricken shoppers. But Target COO Michael Fiddelke also attributed the company’s recovery to a decline in “inventory shrinkage” — losses from shoplifting.

Target said it was making “progress” in combating shrinkage. The retailer closed nine stores last year in cities such as New York and Seattle, where crime is a major concern.

If such a retreat from retail becomes a larger trend – and experts warn it will unless cities crack down on crime – shoppers could find themselves trapped in “retail deserts,” with no way to get affordable clothing, groceries or prescription drugs, experts say.

“It’s quite possible that there will be shopping deserts in high-crime areas,” says Gene Petrino, a retired SWAT commander and co-owner of Survival Response, a company that helps companies train their employees to deal with violence in the workplace.

In 2022, shrinkage cost Target a whopping $700 million in profits, according to previous earnings reports. The retailer estimates it will lose another $500 million in 2023, according to previous earnings reports.

“(We) cannot continue to operate these stores because theft and organized retail crime threaten the safety of our team and guests and contribute to unsustainable business performance,” Target said last September.

Patrick McCall, president and CFO of McCall Risk Group, told The Washington Post that he has heard rumors that other major retailers, including companies owned by TJX Brands, are also considering store closings in Chicago.

TJX – which owns well-known chains such as TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods – did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

While there are options besides closing stores, these options are equally unpopular. Stores may keep more items locked away in cabinets – frustrating both customers and Instacart shoppers.

“Thieves are undeterred and are smashing the display cases to get to the merchandise,” McCall told the Post.

“It also becomes a customer service problem because many of these retailers are already understaffed and now don’t have the manpower to put extra people on the sales floor to open those cabinets or displays every time a customer needs a product.”

According to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, the number of robberies, grand thefts and petty thefts in New York City increased by 86% between 2017 and 2023.

According to a report from the National Retail Federation, inventory shrinkage across the industry rose to $112.1 billion in 2022 – nearly $20 billion more than the previous year.

At the time, David Johnston, NRF’s vice president of asset protection and retail operations, said: “The situation is getting worse.”

Target’s success after closing crime-hit stores “could be a big omen,” Burt Flickinger III, managing director of Strategic Resource Group, told Marketwatch.

Drugstores such as CVS and Walgreens – which have announced plans to close up to 2,000 stores this year – have also closed stores across the country.

CVS announced plans to close 900 stores in 2021: 300 each in 2022, 2023 and 2024. While shrinkage likely plays a role, CVS said the store closures were not due to a single factor.

Stop & Shop announced it will close 32 stores this year as customers switch to cheaper grocery stores.

Home goods chains are also struggling. Big Lots announced it will close between 35 and 40 stores this year, while Conn’s filed for bankruptcy and had to close its Bob’s Stores locations.

“Unfortunately, due to the increase in violence against security guards, many stores have decided to adopt a policy of restraint when it comes to arresting shoplifters,” Petrino told the Post. “This has become common knowledge among criminals … and is making the problem even worse.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed ten bills to combat shoplifting last Friday.

The bills provide for increased penalties and fines for shoplifting, theft from a vehicle, organized theft and the resale of stolen goods.

In California, shoplifters are only punished as felons if they steal goods valued at more than $950. Critics say California’s penalties are too lenient – even though the state’s minimum sentences are stricter than in neighboring states Oregon, Nevada and Arizona.

Without a better solution, empty shops are likely to become more and more common.

Today’s retail environment is reminiscent of New York in the 1970s and 1980s, when crime “displaced not only hundreds of thousands of residents but also many businesses,” said Steven Malanga, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

“Within a few years, entire communities lacked basic amenities such as supermarkets and drugstores; empty shops littered the shopping districts,” Malanga predicted.