business - 2026-06-15

Collaroy bottle shop locks doors as Northern Beaches stores deal with theft and staff abuse

Source: manlyobserver.com.au

A Collaroy bottle shop has been temporarily locking its front doors from mid-afternoon and buzzing customers in one by one, after a run of thefts and threatening behaviour that staff say has made normal trading harder. The measure was introduced just before school pick-up time, when shoplifting data suggests incidents are most likely, and points to the pressure some local retailers are facing despite an overall drop in reported thefts.

A Collaroy bottle shop has been temporarily locking its front doors from mid-afternoon and buzzing customers in one by one, after a run of thefts and threatening behaviour that staff say has made normal trading harder. The measure was introduced just before school pick-up time, when shoplifting data suggests incidents are most likely, and points to the pressure some local retailers are facing despite an overall drop in reported thefts. Liquorland at Collaroy began using the door-locking system shortly before the end-of-school bell, with customers required to wait outside until a staff member let them in. A sign explaining the change was later removed, but the company confirmed it had been trying different strategies to deal with what it described as unacceptable behaviour towards staff. A Liquorland spokesperson said most customers did the right thing, but a small number did not. The spokesperson said the company had invested heavily in technology, security guards and safety training, but staff were still experiencing abuse and threatening behaviour. Liquorland said it had rolled out CCTV, access-control entry, security guards, body-worn cameras and de-escalation training across...