7-Eleven stores in Winnipeg losing hundreds daily, representatives tell police board
Representatives of 7-Eleven say the convenience store giant’s Winnipeg locations are losing hundreds of dollars daily to theft, according to the chair of the Winnipeg police board.
St. Norbert-Seine River Coun. Markus Chambers and the board’s other members met with 7-Eleven representatives on Friday.
The level of theft is not sustainable, Chambers said, and police plan to launch a new retail theft initiative once the new North District station, which officially opened in September, is fully operational.
“It would look like the initiative that took place during the Christmas holidays — officers connecting with retailers, with businesses, and making sure that we’re hearing exactly what’s going on, and then creating that greater police presence right in the community and neighbourhoods,” he said in an interview.
Company officials warned city councillors last year that 10 of their Winnipeg stores were at risk of closing.
Since then, some locations have permanently shut their doors.
The police board met with three officials from the company, including the regional manager for Manitoba, Chambers said.
They told the board the company wants to keep its remaining stores in the city open, he said, but “recognizing that it’s not sustainable to have upwards of $500 or $600 daily being ripped off from your stores.”
“So it is about sustainability and how we can work together,” he said.
CBC News reached out to 7-Eleven for comment but did not receive a reply prior to publication.
According to a report presented to city councillors in August 2024, the 987 incidents, including thefts and robberies, reported at all of the North End 7-Eleven locations in the first quarter of last year was nearly equal to the total of 1,098 reported in all of 2023.
The store at the corner of Salter Street and Flora Avenue, which was on the list of potential closures, had experienced more than $323,500 worth of thefts, the report said.
Last May, the province announced a short-term plan to pay for police to work overtime in identified retail crime hot spots. It allocated another $1.16 million in a July extension, and then extended it again in October, before making the funding permanent in November.
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