The small town fighting back against shoplifting

Karen Armstrong has run a newsagent and post office in Kelso for 30 years

The shop owners of Kelso feel they have been a victim of their own success.

The town benefits from a strong local community and business is good, with plenty of independent shops.

But the owners think thieves see them as an easy target and travel to the town to steal what they can.

Now they are fighting back.

More than 70 businesses, large and small, are part of a Shopwatch initiative, using social media to alert each other when a thief is spotted..

The message from the woman behind it, Karen Armstrong, is: "Don't bother, we're one step in front of you".

As owner and postmistress of Brown Newsagents and Kelso Post Office, Karen has seen first hand how shoplifting is on the rise.

"There's a lot of crime going on in our beautiful town of Kelso, a lot of shoplifting going on which is unfair to all traders in Kelso and anywhere," says Karen.

Brown's post office and newsagent has been open since 1976

"I think it's got worse recently. I don't know if it's poverty, I don't know exactly what is causing it. I wish we did.

"Now Christmas is on the horizon, you just think, is it going to get worse?"

Shopwatch schemes have existed in the UK for decades. They once relied on two-way radios but mobile phones and messaging apps make it easier than ever to share information.

In Kelso they communicate via a WhatsApp group to send out an alert if a suspected shoplifter is on their premises, along with a description of them.

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Karen also follows up with a phone call using a chain system. Once alerted, each trader notifies another member, who then does the same so that the whole group is quickly contacted.

"We're actually getting it out there to say, 'we've got this going, don't target us!'", she said. "We cannot afford to lose business.

"I don't know why we get targeted but there will be other places that are getting targeted as well and I really recommend that they get something in place to try and stop it too."

Claire Mole, pictured in her shop, recently had £100 worth of items stolen

Claire Mole's business was recently targeted by a shoplifter. She described how it felt to lose £100 worth of stock when a woman stole from her shop, Mole House.

"I wouldn't say upset, I'd say angry that she thought it was her God-given right to walk in and just taken whatever she fancied," she said.

"She's not just stealing from me and my staff, because obviously I have wages to pay, but also the local school.

"I contribute raffle prizes for Christmas fairs and summer fetes and things. So there's £100 of stuff just gone out the door, so I can't contribute to the schools," she said.

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Claire said she was "delighted" the scheme has been put in place to try to curb shoplifting.

A few years ago, residents of Kelso heeded the warnings of "use it or lose it" from the struggling high street.

Now, it attracts big money tourism to the area. The Junction Pool, one of the most expensive fishing beats in the world, runs right alongside the town.

That means the cobbled streets of Kelso can be busy, sometimes bringing in unwanted "customers".

Joe Storey-Scott has run his shop in the town for four years since moving back to the Borders, after 20 years living in London

Joe Storey-Scott, who owns 20 Storey Book Shop, says he has noticed some suspicious visitors to the town.

"I think an initiative like this is good because it means that as a shop keeper you can warn other businesses in the area straight away that there's something going on," he said.

"I think obviously times are tough for everyone but yeah, I have noticed there has been an increase quite recently in dodgy characters going about.

"It's difficult when you're running your own business and attending to customer when other people come in and see you distracted."

There have been warnings from businesses across the UK that shoplifting is on the increase.

In September, a Co-op boss warned that stores were descending into "anarchy" as staff faced a rise in retail crime.

The firm's UK stores have seen a 35% increase in crime in the past year and more than 900 staff were physically assaulted.

Joanna Stewart is part of a family business that has been operating since 1886

Another business owner targeted in Kelso is 47-year-old Joanna Stewart. She runs Stewart's ironmonger and general store, a fifth generation family business which opened in 1886.

She believes the cost-of-living crisis could be making the problem worse - but the shopwatch scheme is helping.

"We feel that we've all literally got each other's backs and there's a real sense of community that we're looking out for each other.

"It certainly has escalated over the last few months definitely and I think that's been because the current climate that we're all living in. We're all aware of the price of living. I think it's just the detrimental effect of that.

Joanna's shop stocks many small items and she relies heavily on CCTV.

"When you've got lots of little items that can be put in pockets or underneath coats or in buggies or whatever, it's something that we're acutely aware of.

With so many local businesses now signed up to the Kelso scheme, organiser Karen believes the message to shoplifters is clear. "We're on it".

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