Theft sees Pokemon playing cards axed from outlets

Theft of Pokemon cards has become so common shops cannot afford the security needed to deter shoplifters, a retail boss has said.

Gavin Peck, head of High Street chain The Works, which operates about 500 outlets in the UK, told The Mail on Sunday he had stopped selling the collectibles due to shoplifters’ obsession with them.

‘Most of what we sell is quite low value so to invest in the technology is just cost-prohibitive,’ he said of anti-theft measures.

‘We put higher-priced or more theft-prone items near the till, but we have one or two colleagues in a store at any time. It’s quite easy to get around that.’

On the case: A scene from the 2019 Pokemon film Detective Pikachu

He said security costs had run into the ‘low millions of pounds’ and it had become more cost-effective to withdraw the cards.

His comments come after the MoS reported last year that criminal gangs had forced HMV to pull Pokemon cards from its shop floors and online.

Boss Phil Halliday said at the time that demand for the cards was so intense that even its delivery vans were being targeted by thieves.

Pokemon cards, which depict cartoon creatures used by their ‘trainers’ to fight each other, surged in popularity in the 1990s and still attract new fans, with rare varieties attracting huge resale price tags.