Downtown San Francisco Target Locking Up Clothing Behind Security Cabinets

Men’s T-shirts, socks, and underwear were placed behind the protective cabinets at the Target due to frequent theft.

Shoping carts are wheeled outside a Target Store during Black Friday sales in Brooklyn, New York, on Nov. 26, 2021. Brendan McDermid/Reuters

A downtown San Francisco Target is locking up some of its clothing behind security cabinets due to frequent theft.

Men’s T-shirts, socks, and underwear were placed behind the protective cabinets last month at the Target inside the Metreon Mall near San Francisco’s Union Square.

To access items inside the security cabinets, a customer can press a button on the cabinets that alerts a worker to unlock the doors.

A Target worker, who preferred to remain anonymous, told The San Francisco Standard, a local news outlet, that the Metreon location saw multiple clothing thefts per day—particularly in the men’s underwear section.

“People take the men’s stuff almost every day,” the worker said. “Now that they are locked up, it’s helped stop it a bit.”

Other items behind security cabinets at that Target location include shampoo, deodorant, toothbrushes, and beef jerky, according to the Standard.

Meanwhile, Target officials said it has several theft-deterrent strategies it utilizes, and that the decisions are usually made on a local basis.

“While we don’t share specifics on these strategies, these decisions are generally made at a local level,” a Target official said in the Standard article. “Our multi-layered approach to combatting theft includes in-store technology, training for store leaders and security team members, and partnerships with law enforcement agencies as well as retail trade associations.”