Honestly? I thought I'd seen everything until I heard about this.
There's this bloke in Otley, West Yorkshire - Steve Nelson, he's 67 - who runs what might be the most bonkers business model in Britain. Everything in his shop costs exactly 20p. DVDs, greeting cards, cutlery, even jewelry. Twenty bloody pence for everything. And yet... people are still stealing from him.
I mean, come on.
When Pensioners Turn to Crime
Steve told the Daily Mail something that made my jaw drop: "When you've got pensioners stealing from a 20p shop, something's gone seriously wrong, hasn't it?" The man's got a point. He's literally had to ban an elderly couple from his store because they kept nicking stuff. At 20p per item! What's next, robbing charity boxes?
The thieves have this whole system worked out too. They'll buy one legitimate 20p item - you know, to look all innocent - then casually pocket a bunch of other stuff on their way out. Some of them are apparently taking greeting cards in bulk and flogging them at car boot sales for 50p each. That's a 150% markup on stolen goods that cost less than a packet of crisps.
The Maths Don't Add Up (For Anyone)
Here's what gets me about this whole thing. Steve's operating on margins so thin they're practically invisible. He buys everything in bulk, sources it carefully, and makes maybe a few pence profit per item. When someone steals a bunch of cards, that's £30-40 down the drain for him. For a shop that only takes in about £150 on a good day, that's devastating.
The 20p Shop opened back in 2017 and it's become this weird tourist attraction. Locals donate unwanted items, volunteers help run it (no paid staff), and somehow Steve keeps the lights on. Well, barely. With rent, rates, and electricity all coming out of that £150 daily take, plus wholesale costs going up... it's like watching someone juggle while riding a unicycle on a tightrope.
Life Keeps Getting Harder
As if theft wasn't enough, the council decided to paint double yellow lines right outside the shop. Because apparently making it impossible for customers to park was exactly what this struggling business needed. Footfall dropped immediately.
Steve's son Stewart (he's 31) had to squash rumors that they were raising prices to 50p. "Not happening," he said. Though honestly, I wouldn't blame them if they did.
Britain's Shoplifting Problem Has Lost Its Mind
The bigger picture here is absolutely mental. Shoplifting in England and Wales hit an all-time high last year - 516,971 recorded crimes, up 20% from 2023. That's costing the average household an extra £133 per year in 2023, according to the Centre for Retail Research.
Violence against shop workers is up 50% too, with over 2,000 incidents recorded daily. The British Retail Consortium's annual crime survey makes for grim reading.
But here's what really gets me: if people are stealing from a shop where everything costs 20p, what hope do regular retailers have? It's like we've crossed some sort of moral event horizon where the price doesn't matter anymore. The act of taking something without paying has become so normalized that even pensioners are at it.
Steve Nelson's shop should be a feel-good story about community spirit and bargain hunting. Instead, it's become a perfect microcosm of what's wrong with retail crime in Britain today.
Twenty pence. That's less than most people spend on a single sweet. And they're still nicking it.
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