Safeway officials said they are scratching their heads after a bizarre set of circumstances left two Roseville stores unlocked over the Christmas holiday.
Even more surprising, police confirm nothing was stolen even though shoppers had gotten inside.
Police told KCRA 3 that two different Safeway stores in Roseville were left unlocked on Christmas Eve.
ReplyDeleteOne Safeway store was located on Pleasant Grove at Roseville Parkway and the other store was located on Sunrise and Kirby streets.
Police said when they showed up at 3:30 p.m. Friday they found that people had been taking items and leaving money at the registers.
Customers outside one Roseville Safeway store said they couldn't quite believe it.
"That's crazy. How would they forget to lock the store up," said Roseville resident Leanna Havens.
"Oh, wow. That's shocking actually," said Roseville resident Ron Hollingsworth.
In fact, according to Roseville police, they were unlocked on Christmas afternoon and that wasn't the only surprise when they arrived.
"A customer, from inside the store, said there was a lot of customers in the store. We went over there. There was actually a report of customers leaving money on the counter, purchasing merchandise," said Lt. Mark Toupin, with Roseville police.
Police said there was no looting and no theft.
"[I'm] surprised they would leave money. And you know, surprised they didn't get completely ripped off," said Roseville resident Leanna Havens. "People were in there getting groceries and just leaving money at the register because there was nobody to take the money."
Another Safeway store, a few miles away, was also found unlocked with no thefts and in both cases, company spokeswoman Susan Houghton blamed the problem on a lock malfunction.
"These are 24-hour stores, so they're not locked a lot," Houghton said.
Houghton said she called the outbreak of honesty a display of Christmas spirit and shoppers on Saturday said it was the only thing that makes sense.
"That's awesome. I can't wait to get home and tell the family," said Roseville resident Dan Allen.
"I'll be darned. Well, that was a really nice Christmas gesture, wasn't it," said Lincoln resident Roy Chase.
Safeway said the first store was left unlocked for almost four hours on Christmas Eve and the second store was unlocked for just over a half hour on Christmas Day.