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by Brendan Dunne
Sneaker thieves in Brooklyn are leveling up and figuring out new ways to pilfer footwear.
The traditional method is of course to try a pair on and then run out of the store while wearing them, but big box retailers have long since caught on to that scheme. Nowadays these retailers have a policy in place where salespeople will only let customers try on one shoe at a time, preventing them from making any sort of escape with a full pair. The New York Times caught up with a couple of shoe store employees in Brooklyn though, who explained how people are getting around that these days.
Apparently thieves will hit Foot Locker, where only left shoes are on display, and take those single shoes. From there, they'll a trip to Jimmy Jazz, which uses right shoes for its wall displays, and complete the set. This type of footwear lifting has actually been happening for a while – the Times points out one crazy scheme where people plundered left shoes from Sweden to match right shoes they stole in Denmark.
