KIRKLAND, Wash. — The Kirkland Police Department is investigating an organized retail crime after three suspects allegedly stole more than $4,000 worth of items from a Kirkland store on New Year's Eve.
Three men working together targeted Ulta Beauty located on Totem Lake Blvd late Friday afternoon, according to a police report. The suspects allegedly loaded up bags with more than $4,000 worth of items and fled in a red Toyota sedan.
Organized retail crime is nothing new but it is something the retail industry is calling a growing issue. Before the holidays, crowds smashed and grabbed their way through stores in California. It was an example of the increasing swarm-style flash mob-like robberies.
Scott Decker, an emeritus professor who worked in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University, has studied these kinds of crimes and said in some instances before crowds move in, they connect online.
"Typically not on the mainstream social networking sites, but on one of the many smaller niche forms of communication that exist," Decker explained. "Because of the nature of these events, they spark up pretty quickly. The people involved don't know each other very well, and individuals go their own way."
In 2020, the National Retail Federation, the industry's largest trade group, conducted a survey asking 61 retailers about their experience over the past 12 months. Three in four retailers reported an increase in organized retail crime.
Managers at Ulta Beauty told me they could not comment and messages to the store's corporate office have not been returned.