Chocolate Anti Theft Boxes: chocolate anti theft boxes appear in supermarkets as shops warn bars are being stolen to order

Retailers are fitting chocolate anti theft boxes on high‑value bars as shops warn that thieves are stealing confectionery to order. The shift to locked transparent boxes follows police footage and industry figures that shoplifting remains widespread and costly.

Chocolate Anti Theft Boxes rolled out by Sainsbury's, Tesco and Co‑Op

Sainsbury's has begun using what it called "boxes on products which are regularly targeted", and one London branch put £2. 60 Cadbury Dairy Milk bars into locked plastic boxes. Supermarkets including Tesco and Co‑Op have also fitted transparent boxes on chocolate that customers must ask staff to open.

Police forces post footage of organised chocolate thefts in Stourbridge and Wiltshire

In recent months multiple police forces have shared videos of chocolate being stolen. West Midlands Police published CCTV of a man grabbing trays of chocolate outside a shop in Stourbridge, and Wiltshire Police posted footage of a man dragging a whole shelving stand of chocolate out through a shop door.

Cambridgeshire arrest and police warnings about high‑value targets

Earlier last year Cambridgeshire Police arrested a man found with a coat full of Cadbury's Creme Eggs. Cambridgeshire Police said chocolate is one of a number of high‑value items thieves often target, alongside products such as alcohol, meat and coffee, and warned that retail theft has a real and lasting impact on businesses and the staff who have to deal with abuse and intimidation.

Retail bodies urge tougher action as theft is resold through illicit markets

The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) said chocolate is being "sold on by criminals and is now being targeted more frequently by prolific offenders. " ACS chief executive James Lowman said confectionery stolen from local shops is being re‑sold through illicit markets that help fund wider criminal activity, and the ACS called for better police support, stronger sentences for repeat offenders and action to shut down networks re‑selling stolen goods. The National Police Chiefs' Council said it was working to tackle this type of crime.

Scale of shop theft and the cost to smaller operators

The British Retail Consortium's annual crime report found there were 5. 5 million detected incidents of shop theft last year and 1, 600 daily incidents of violence and abuse against retail workers. The report said those figures were down by a fifth on the previous year but remained the second highest on record.

The Heart of England Co‑Op group, which runs 38 stores in the West Midlands, Warwickshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, said chocolate theft cost it £250, 000 last year. The group said chocolate was its most stolen product in 2024 and was topped only by alcohol in 2025. Chief executive Steve Browne called chocolate theft a "massive issue", saying: "In a particular shop, one individual could cost us thousands of pounds in a week" and "They were coming in... then literally swiping the whole shelf. " Browne added that a shelf of chocolate could be worth £500 and that the group had spent £3m on security and other measures to prevent thefts.

Independent shopkeepers change displays as theft rises

Sunita Aggarwal, who runs two convenience stores in Leicester and Sheffield, said she has reduced the amount of chocolate on display in her Sheffield store because of increasing theft. "People are just coming in, and nicking boxes and boxes of chocolate, " she said, describing the effect on day‑to‑day running of small shops.