It’s the most wonderful time of the year for small businesses.

What You Need To Know

  • Small businesses in the Monroe Avenue neighborhood have seen an uptick in shoplifters since the pandemic
  • There's been even more theft in the past six months, ahead of the holiday
  • Aaron's Alley has been a Monroe Ave. staple for more than three decades
  • Owner, Jennifer Plunkett, says her team has become better at stopping thieves, but on some days the losses can still be hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise
  • President of the Monroe Ave. Merchants Association, Elyssa Rossi, has created a group chat for neighboring businesses as a way to connect and warn each other of potential crime up the street heading their way

“This is what we live for. This is the big part for us,” said Jennifer Plunkett, owner of Aaron’s Alley on Monroe Avenue in Rochester.

Her shop is one of the many stores along the mile and a half long strip that’s filled with business — all of which are dealing with the same issue.

“It does seem like we’re seeing an increase in shoplifting,” Plunkett admitted. 

Aaron’s Alley sells a wide range of things, from clothing to knickknacks. So when the shop gets hit by shoplifters, some days are more difficult to recover from than others.

“That particular day, that gentleman took probably almost $200,” Plunkett recalled. “He got a few hats and a couple of shirts. So he got me hard that day. That’s a huge loss for a small business.”

Capital One Shopping reported back in October that shoplifting losses grew by nearly 20% over the course of one year.

“That hurts. That’s less that we can give to our other employees,” said Plunkett. “So that takes away from possible raises for folks. It’s less money for us to do in donations or other supportive things that we’ve always done.” 

Now, unwelcome shoplifters are forcing the neighborhood to unite. Plunkett says up until recently, if there was an issue in her store, she’d share the warning with her next-door neighbor. However, the Monroe Avenue Merchants Association recently started a group chat with neighboring businesses to help everyone avoid the same struggles.

“[In] August we started the shoplifter text thread,” Elyssa Rose, president of Monroe Avenue Merchants Association, explained. “We had so much interest in it that we were only allowed 20 people in the text thread and we realized very quickly that we needed to adapt a third-party app, which we just started this week.”

Dozens of business owners joined the chat quickly.

Plunkett says there was one day she was showing her employee a picture from the chat of a shoplifter who had just stopped at a business up the street. Before she knew it, she recognized the next shopper that walked in the door from the picture. She was able to stop any loss of business before it even entered the door. 

“It’s one little thing that we can do that can help empower us as a community, right? Like, there’s only so much we can do when it comes to crime and safety, right? But it’s what we can do to help prevent it and help put us in a better situation. And I think communication is a big part of that,” Rossi said.

Aaron’s Alley couldn’t agree more.

“Oh my gosh, its amazing. It’s been a game changer,” Plunkett said. “This is my home, and these are my neighbors and we’re all going to protect each other.”