The advance of civilization in our major urban areas.
Never has buying, selling or stealing a pair of sneakers in Brooklyn been this complicated.
The cat-and-mouse tactics between sneaker store managers and sneaker thieves have escalated to new levels of complexity. Theft prevention has changed just about everything involved in the transaction of buying a pair of sneakers — even the simple act of trying them on for size.
As a result, thieves — at least in Bushwick — have changed their tactics, resorting to stealing the lowest-hanging fruit: the unguarded, single sneakers on display shelves.
“They go here and they steal a left shoe,” explained Dayshorn Mickens, 24, a manager at a Foot Locker on Broadway, standing in a room lined with shelves of left-foot shoes.
“Let’s say it’s a 9 and a half. They go to Jimmy Jazz” — another sneaker store two blocks away, where the display shoes are all right — “and steal the right.”
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At Jimmy Jazz, another sneaker store two blocks away from the Foot Locker, the display shoes are all for the right foot. CreditNicole Craine for The New York TimesHow did it come to this? The Bushwick thieves cannot even claim to have invented the scheme; accounts of similar thefts have turned up as far away as Denmark and Sweden. For a complete history of the sneaker, one need only visit the nearby Brooklyn Museum, where the exhibit “The Rise of Sneaker Culture” opened Friday. But the clerks of Bushwick tell of more recent patterns in their stores.
Mr. Mickens started working at the Bushwick store a few weeks ago after a stint at the flagship on West 34th Street near theEmpire State Building. Things were different there.
“They have actual security guards,” he said. “And detectives.” Sneaker store sleuths were on the lookout for thieves. “They wear regular clothes,” he said.
In Bushwick, Mr. Mickens, uniformed in the store’s standard referee stripes, sees himself as manager, salesman, security guard and detective, all in one. He lives in the neighborhood and knows who the thieves are.
“It’s Brooklyn, so the streets talk,” he said. “They know I work here.”
Once upon a time, stealing a pair of sneakers was a play in two acts: 1) try on sneakers, and then 2) run away.
Mr. Mickens and other managers at Foot Locker and Jimmy Jazz stores have since embraced a rule to prevent their sneakers from running out the door.
The one-shoe policy.
When a customer wants to try on a pair of sneakers, a clerk will hand over the left one. If the customer wants to try on the right sneaker, the clerk will ask for the left one back before handing the right over. The customer never wears two new sneakers at the same time in the store.
“If we give them both,” Mr. Mejias said at Jimmy Jazz, “they run with it.”
If the customer decides to buy the sneakers, the clerk carries them to the register, handing over the full pair only after payment.
Of course, there are exceptions, and the managers use discretion.
“The one-shoe policy is cool, but you can’t discriminate against every customer who comes in here,” Mr. Mickens said at Foot Locker.
Other strategies are employed to beat the one-shoe policy.
On June 9, just before noon, a group of young men entered the Foot Locker in Bushwick. A different manager, Jay Barns, 20, greeted them, and they asked him to bring out several pairs of shoes to try on. “Ten or 15 people,” he said. He was suspicious and told them he didn’t have those sizes.
“One of the boys was like, ‘This is nothing funny. I’ve got money. We really need these sneakers.’ ” So Mr. Barns relented and brought the shoes up.
He handed the men left shoes. One said, “I’ve got two feet,” Mr. Barns recalled. “I’m telling them no, this is part of Foot Locker procedure. ‘Give me back the left and I’ll give you the right.’ ”
As other customers became impatient, Mr. Barns saw members of the group stuff some T-shirts into a bag and head for the door. Flustered, he handed the men the right shoes.
The men — many wearing one sneaker and carrying the other — ran out the door.
“I was outnumbered,” Mr. Barns said. The police say the suspects remain at large.
Mr. Mickens said that while he was constantly vigilant, he worked hard to not treat everyone who entered the store like a criminal.
“Some people who come in here,” he said, “want to try on shoes.”
The cat-and-mouse tactics between sneaker store managers and sneaker thieves have escalated to new levels of complexity. Theft prevention has changed just about everything involved in the transaction of buying a pair of sneakers — even the simple act of trying them on for size.
As a result, thieves — at least in Bushwick — have changed their tactics, resorting to stealing the lowest-hanging fruit: the unguarded, single sneakers on display shelves.
“They go here and they steal a left shoe,” explained Dayshorn Mickens, 24, a manager at a Foot Locker on Broadway, standing in a room lined with shelves of left-foot shoes.
“Let’s say it’s a 9 and a half. They go to Jimmy Jazz” — another sneaker store two blocks away, where the display shoes are all right — “and steal the right.”
Over at Jimmy Jazz, a clerk, Wesley Mejias, 22, confirmed the unlikely bond between the two stores. “That’s true,” he said. “They’ll get the right here and the left at another store.”
Mr. Mickens started working at the Bushwick store a few weeks ago after a stint at the flagship on West 34th Street near theEmpire State Building. Things were different there.
“They have actual security guards,” he said. “And detectives.” Sneaker store sleuths were on the lookout for thieves. “They wear regular clothes,” he said.
In Bushwick, Mr. Mickens, uniformed in the store’s standard referee stripes, sees himself as manager, salesman, security guard and detective, all in one. He lives in the neighborhood and knows who the thieves are.
“It’s Brooklyn, so the streets talk,” he said. “They know I work here.”
Once upon a time, stealing a pair of sneakers was a play in two acts: 1) try on sneakers, and then 2) run away.
Mr. Mickens and other managers at Foot Locker and Jimmy Jazz stores have since embraced a rule to prevent their sneakers from running out the door.
The one-shoe policy.
When a customer wants to try on a pair of sneakers, a clerk will hand over the left one. If the customer wants to try on the right sneaker, the clerk will ask for the left one back before handing the right over. The customer never wears two new sneakers at the same time in the store.
“If we give them both,” Mr. Mejias said at Jimmy Jazz, “they run with it.”
If the customer decides to buy the sneakers, the clerk carries them to the register, handing over the full pair only after payment.
Of course, there are exceptions, and the managers use discretion.
“The one-shoe policy is cool, but you can’t discriminate against every customer who comes in here,” Mr. Mickens said at Foot Locker.
Mitch Lazarre, 20, a store associate, said demeanor could be a giveaway for crooks.
“A customer is going to only be focused on product,” he said. “A guy who wants to rob will focus on other people.”Other strategies are employed to beat the one-shoe policy.
On June 9, just before noon, a group of young men entered the Foot Locker in Bushwick. A different manager, Jay Barns, 20, greeted them, and they asked him to bring out several pairs of shoes to try on. “Ten or 15 people,” he said. He was suspicious and told them he didn’t have those sizes.
“One of the boys was like, ‘This is nothing funny. I’ve got money. We really need these sneakers.’ ” So Mr. Barns relented and brought the shoes up.
He handed the men left shoes. One said, “I’ve got two feet,” Mr. Barns recalled. “I’m telling them no, this is part of Foot Locker procedure. ‘Give me back the left and I’ll give you the right.’ ”
As other customers became impatient, Mr. Barns saw members of the group stuff some T-shirts into a bag and head for the door. Flustered, he handed the men the right shoes.
The men — many wearing one sneaker and carrying the other — ran out the door.
“I was outnumbered,” Mr. Barns said. The police say the suspects remain at large.
Mr. Mickens said that while he was constantly vigilant, he worked hard to not treat everyone who entered the store like a criminal.
“Some people who come in here,” he said, “want to try on shoes.”
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