CVS store to close after DC thieves ransack location for months, leaving shelves bare

A Washington DC CVS store will close its doors after a group of sticky-fingered teens routinely ransacked the store, leaving the shelves bare.

According to Fox affiliate, WTTG-TV, the pharmacy storefront in Washington D.C’s Columbia Heights neighborhood is closing on Feb. 29.

The closing comes months after videos surfaced in Oct. 2023 of row after row of empty shelves at the CVS store after a group of shoplifting teens ransacked the store. 

The rampant theft has gotten so bad at the CVS location that customers have begun shopping at other locations for necessities.

“It makes me not want to shop there to be honest. I just go in there and get my prescription and then when I need other things, I go elsewhere because there’s nothing there to get,” Ilana Miller, a CVS customer, told WTTG-TV.

According to staff who work there, 45 or more kids regularly go into the store to steal chips and drinks before school, after school, and late at night.

CVS employees allege that the teen thieves are aware of when new shipments come in and when to best target the store.

Fox 5 was told that “street vendors are allegedly paying people to go in and steal stuff so they can resell it.” The station reported that they saw street venders selling items that once filled the now-empty shelves at the pharmacy. 

They noticed people selling toothbrushes, men’s and women’s body wash, car fresheners, and laundry and cleaning supplies along the streets just steps away from the CVS.

On a year-to-date basis, reports of robbery are up by 68% in 2023 vs. 2022. 

Just 1,395 instances of property crime have taken place so far in 2024, versus 1,615 at this point in 2023, Metropolitan Police Department data shows.

Reports show 3,470 robberies occurred in 2023.

CVS Pharmacy’s headquarters and the Metropolitan Police Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.