hollister and abercrombie masterpost
ok, so i just put in my two weeks at hollister (loved it there but the drive made it very cost ineffective, unfortunately) so i suppose it’s time to make a full post about lifting from them
abercrombie kids, hollister, and abercrombie&fitch are all owned by the same company and all follow the same procedures
models (store clerks) and managers are not allowed to accuse or prosecute you for shoplifting unless you admit to shoplifting. what that means is play dumb. if the alarm goes off when you are leaving, they are only allowed to search bags from hollister and abercrombie unless you consent to having others searched. if you keep walking, they can’t do a single thing about it. they are not allowed to chase.
if you are caught with something, they will attempt to recover but that’s it. for example, we are taught to say things such as “oh, someone at the register must have forgotten to remove a sensor. let me see so we can take that off for you.” and then we check the receipt and if an item isn’t on there, we say “oh no, it looks like the cashier didn’t ring this up. were you still interested in buying it?” recovery is the main goal, nothing else. you literally have to say “i was trying to shoplift that” to be banned from the store when dealing with a model/manager.
HOWEVER, this does not apply to loss/asset protection. they can and will prosecute and ban you from the stores if you are caught. each AP usually works at about two-three malls, so they have around six-nine stores each. while there’s a good chance they’re not at a store on a particular day, do not get cocky. they are the ones you need to look out for.
all stores use sensormatic tags that require a hook to remove. magnets will not work.
almost everything is tagged, from perfumes/cologne to accessories to all items of clothing
the only things that are not tagged always are body care products such as body sprays and lotion (NOT perfume/colognes, which come in boxes). depending on the store, they may or may not have rfid tags, which can be peeled off.
hollister is the easiest by the way it is set up: while all stores have separate “rooms”, hollister’s are the most prominent and it is hard to see from one room to the next.
each room has one black dome camera which projects to a screen in the back. no cameras are fake, but the screen is not actively watched at all times. this does not mean they are never watched.
the cash wrap/register area has more than one camera, though this is more for employee theft than anything else. however, do not conceal in this area
the fitting rooms are locked and require an associate to unlock it, though they are usually not actively watched. you are allowed five items at a time, but it is rare they will count when leaving
we are trained to take items from customers and carry them into the fitting room for them, but this isn’t strictly enforced. if they do, try to hide extra clothes underneath a large coat on your arm.
associates will usually not let you take accessories into the fitting room
sensormatic tags are fairly noisy to removed, but the music is almost always loud enough to cover the sound
if you have a hook and plan on removing tags, TAKE JEANS WHEN GOING TO THE FITTING ROOM. until recently, jeans were tagged down by the ankle, about an inch up into the leg on the seam (if you want to see where, most jeans on clearance will still be tagged this way). now, they are tagged at the waistband next to the size tag. because of this, it’s very common for some pants to accidentally be tagged twice in both places. therefore, you can easily hide a tag on a pair of jeans
the girl’s side is much more actively watched than the boy’s. when leaving the store, always exit through the boy’s side, as it is less likely as associate will be up there
now if any of you get caught after this, i’ll be quite disappointed. just stay away from my store, okay? (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
