Bucking the System

With some stores cracking down, shoplifters areturning to those that have less stringent securitysystems, either because of negligence or a lack offunds.

Grolier Poetry Bookshop on Plympton Street, forone, has not reaped any rewards from the 21percent decrease.

Grolier's owner, Louisa Solano, spends her dayswavering between making it clear to would-bethieves that they are under surveillance andkeeping her loyal customers from feeling shedistrusts them.

Solano is so concerned with customer servicethat, even when she sees a woman slip a book intoher handbag, Solano lets her walk right out thedoor.

Some may call her foolish, Solano says, but shedoesn't want a police visit to deter customersfrom browsing.

"I don't want to make a big fuss," she says asthe shoplifter exits the store.

Solano says her business's shopliftingsituation is somewhat unique. Her customers, shesays, are an intelligent and fiercely loyal group,so she shies away from alienating them even thoughthey make off with a book from time to time.

"I am blessed and cursed with one of the mostcreative customer bases in the area," Solano saidlast week. "Unfortunately, they do not have astrong sense of ethics."

Yet Solano does not take shopliftinglightly--nor should she. In 1998 alone her storelost $10,000 to shoplifting--the equivalent of twoto three books stolen each day.

Because of this, the store made only $1,200after paying rent, employee wages and inventorycosts. As Solano's only source of income, this$100 a month was hardly enough to live on.

Grolier was able to stay afloat thanks to afundraiser organized by a friend, but Solano saysif the shoplifting trend continues, her store mayclose its doors.

In Inman Square, another store already has.

The Sandy and Son toystore, which was locatedon Cambridge Street, bid its customers farewell onFeb. 1. In a short period of time, the store lostan amount of inventory that was "enough to fill asecond store," says Kathy Roberts, a close friendof owner Sandy Ruben.

Roberts, the co-founder of Cambridge'sDandelion School daycare center, says the storeprovided a wonderful resource not only for herschool--which bought its supplies at Sandy andSon--but for the whole community.