Walgreens, the second-largest pharmacy chain in the United States with nearly 9,000 outlets, will close five stores in San Francisco due to what the company called “organized retail crime.”

CNN has reported that San Francisco has experienced a surge of crime as the COVID-19 outbreak has subsided and tourism has begun to return.

“Organized retail crime continues to be a challenge facing retailers across San Francisco, and we are not immune to that,” said Walgreens spokesperson Phil Caruso, according to SF Gate. “Retail theft across our San Francisco stores has continued to increase in the past few months to five times our chain average.

“During this time to help combat this issue, we increased our investments in security measures in stores across the city to 46 times our chain average in an effort to provide a safe environment.”... Read More: Newsmax