CVS Fights Crime and Streamlines Inventory with Photo-Based Stock

A CVS pharmacy in Washington DC has replaced most of its stock with framed photographs of items in an effort to combat rampant shoplifting, with customers having to request staff to fetch the products from storage. This move comes after a CVS store in DC was ransacked by teenage looters, and CVS, along with Rite Aid and Walgreens, is closing over 1,500 stores combined due to the shoplifting crisis. The National Retail Federation estimates that shoplifting costs the industry $112 billion annually. The closures will leave many Americans in "pharmacy deserts" without immediate access to medication.