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Supermarket owners say it’s open season on grocery store workers after an employee at a Bronx store was attacked by a pair of suspected shoplifters — just days after a Manhattan bodega clerk was shot to death by a masked gunman.
Surveillance video from a Foodtown market on Allerton Avenue in the Bronx shows a worker tussling with two customers suspected of stealing from the store.
Store workers said the attack happened Tuesday afternoon after an employee confronted two people trying to exit.
Managers called cops from the 49th Precinct.
The attack was decried by a group called Collective Action to Protect our Stores, an organization of small businesses pushing for increased enforcement around retail theft.
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“With yet another attack on a grocery store worker, now is the time for our leaders in City Hall and Albany to step up and change policies and pass laws that will protect employees and customers,” the group said in a statement. “Enough is enough — it is time for action.”
Louis Porcelli, a supervisor at the Foodtown chain, has been with the company for 30 years. He said the problem is getting worse.
“One of our employees, Alex, was working and noticed two people shoplifting, with merchandise in the bags,” Porcelli told the Daily News.
“Since they do shop with the bags now, we always try to make sure that they pay for it. They came to the front and they just walked right out, so he approached them at the door, trying to take the merchandise back, and that’s when it all started. They shoved him to the floor and the guy punched him left and right.”
The employee was back to work on Thursday, Porcelli said.
“We need the city and the state leaders to step up,” he said. “We need protection, and most of all, we need the customers to feel safe to come in and shop.”
The Foodtown fight came days after an Upper East Side bodega worker was shot in the head during a robbery.
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