This Is Retail: To catch a thief

Greg Saputo has spent a career in retail loss prevention and in the latest installment of the National Retail Federation’s video series, “This Is Retail,” he reflects on the first time he caught a shoplifter.



Loss prevention may not be the first thing that comes to mind when discussing retail careers, but the unheralded and essential aspect of retail operations provided Saputo with a lifetime of work. Today, Saputo is an executive with Se-Kure Controls, a manufacturer and distributor of mechanical and electronic anti-shoplifting devices, but previously he held loss prevention roles with Kmart and the Highland Superstores chain of consumer electronics stores. Back in 1972, Saputo was a wet-behind-the-ears store detective at a Montgomery Ward store watching as a woman in fur coat slid several cassette tapes up her sleeve. It was the first apprehension of his career and Saputo remembers it like it was yesterday. Click here to read this story.