Retail theft definitely spiked during COVID, but it's still higher than it was before the pandemic. One Best Buy analyst actually said people should sell their stock this summer after he saw how a lot of stores were locking up or not displaying merchandise. The US Chamber of Commerce found that 56% of small businesses said they were attacked by shoplisters over the past year. 50% thought the issue had gotten worse and 46% had increased their prices because of it.