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Being a bystander to shoplifting puts people in a weird, sometimes dangerous, spot. You don’t know if you should say something, ignore it, or just get out of the way entirely.
And when nothing happens at all, that confusion can quickly turn into frustration.
That’s exactly what happened to TikToker Denise (@shapedwithstrength) after she stopped by a Walgreens in Cary, North Carolina. What she says she witnessed, and how the store responded, left her stunned.
What Went Down At This North Carolina Walgreens?
In her video, Denise explains that she’s doing last-minute shopping when she ends up in the makeup aisle. That’s when she notices another woman lingering close behind her.
“I’m in the makeup aisle and I see this lady walk behind me,” she says. “And I hear her.”
At first, Denise assumes there’s a normal explanation. Maybe the store has shopping bags in the beauty section. Maybe she missed something up front. But then she hears items sliding into a tote.
“I hear her taking something and putting it into a bag,” she says. “I’m thinking, all right, maybe they have bags… but I didn’t really see any pink tote bags up front.”
Once she turns around, the situation becomes much clearer.
“She walked a little bit closer to me,” Denise says. “And I’m always aware. I always have my head on a swivel.”
That’s when she notices what the woman is actually doing.
“She’s totally just picking whatever she wants in the skincare section and throwing it into her pink tote bag,” Denise says. “Just casually.”
According to Denise, the woman then walks straight out of the store.
“She just marches out the door,” she says. “Nothing. Nobody. No one says a word.”
Meanwhile, Denise is still standing in line, waiting to pay. “I’m standing there like a schmuck waiting to pay for all my crap,” she says.
That’s when she decides to speak up. “I said, ‘The lady that just left here has a whole bag full of skincare. Do you care?’” she recalls.
The response shocks her. “We can’t do anything,” she says the employee tells her.
That answer doesn’t sit well. “Well then I’m just gonna walk out with my crap,” Denise says she responds. “Why don’t you just put everything on the sidewalk and give it away for free?”
She also asks to speak to a manager. According to Denise, that doesn’t go anywhere either.
“The manager didn’t even come out of his office,” she says. “They called him on the phone. They knew I was there because I was being loud.”
By the end of the video, she’s visibly angry. “How do you run a business like that?” she asks. “It makes my blood boil.”
Does Walgreens Have A No-Chase Policy?
What Denise experienced lines up with policies that many major retailers follow.
A “no-chase” policy means employees aren’t allowed to pursue or physically stop someone suspected of shoplifting. The idea is to reduce the risk of violence, since staff have no way of knowing whether someone is armed.
Walgreens follows this approach as well. In 2024, a Walgreens employee told Business Insider they were reprimanded after chasing a shoplifter out of a store and warned they could lose their job for doing so.
That policy may explain why no one intervened while Denise watched the woman walk out.
In the comments, plenty of people say that what Denise saw feels familiar.
“Same in Nevada, I joke with the manager and ask him ‘why do I continue to pay for my stuff,’” one person wrote.
@shapedwithstrength BALLS!!! @Walgreens ♬ original sound – Denise ?
“They pass the cost to honest people, it’s ridiculous,” another said.
“That’s why everything is locked up,” someone else added.
One commenter who says they work retail summed it up plainly: “Management tells us we can’t stop them. Happens all the time.”
The Mary Sue has reached out to Walgreens via email and Denise via TikTok messages for comment.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
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Ljeonida Mulabazi
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