Managers of the Trader Joe’s on Court Street have confessed — albeit in its own cheeky way — that the store is a magnet for criminals.
A new sign at the entrance to the popular supermarket at Atlantic Avenue offers shoppers this friendly reminder:
“We know it’s hard to focus with so many amazing values in the store, but please keep a close eye on your belongings!”
The tone of the sign seems innocent enough, but the goings-on at the grocery store have been anything but.
Pickpockets have stalked the quirky grocery store with regularity since it opened in 2008, making it one of the usual suspects in our weekly crime blotter, alongside the Planet Fitness on Duffield Street (“Planet pilfer”!), the Macy’s on the Fulton Mall (“Menace at Macy’s”!) and the Bruce Ratner-owned Atlantic Terminal and Atlantic Center malls near the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic avenues (“More malling”!).
In fact, the thievery was so rampant at the supermarket this summer that cops from Carroll Gardens’ 76th Precinct orchestrated a daring sting in which an undercover officer posed as a hapless shopper.
The boys in blue collared a guy trying to rob the shopping Serpico, and the arrest raised hopes that the reign of terror would end.
But the next day, another thief struck.
Since then, there have been at least five incidents at the Hawaiian-themed store, according to our exclusive crime database.
In all, there have been nine robberies — mostly purse-snatchings — at the Trader Joe’s since December.
A spokeswoman with the grocery store had no comment on the sign, calling it only “a friendly reminder.”
