picture alliance / Getty
- For one day in September, a Paris running boutique let people try to steal from it.
- There was catch though: they had to outrun one of the fastest sprinters in France.
- The promotion flipped the script on a problem retailers are grappling with in the US.
A French running store offered a five-finger discount for one day last month. There was a catch, though. Shoppers had to be quicker than that day's security guard.
When the doors opened at Distance's Paris boutique on September 13, shoppers saw shoes and apparel tagged with "ROB IT TO GET IT." Store managers also informed shoppers they could keep whatever they could get away with.
But the security guard — duly dressed in black pants, black polo shirt, and orange armband — was none other than one of the fastest men in France, Méba Mickael Zeze.
Zeze, who has notched a sub-ten-second 100-meter dash and is training for the 2024 Olympics, was hired by Distance's advertising agency to chase down the shoplifters for a video released later.
"I thought it was a joke at first," failed shoplifter Laurie Sicot told the Washington Post.
Sicot was one of 74 customers who tried unsuccessfully to snag some merch. Two managed to get away with their stolen merchandise.
"We lost two items, but I think the value of the campaign is really big," store manager Lionel Jagorel told the Post.
The company did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Zeze told the Post the concept reminded him of playing tag as a child and that he only needed about a third of his top speed to catch most customers.
Still, chasing people for hours was exhausting: "It was a long, long, long day," he said.
The promotion was a lighthearted reversal of a problem US retailers say costs the industry billions of dollars each year.
External theft, which includes shoplifting and organized retail crime, contributed an estimated $40 billion to inventory shrink in 2022.
Smash and grab thefts, push-outs, "flash robs," and other coordinated crimes have had many retailers beefing up security, locking up merchandise, and reducing open hours.
Some companies have even turned to tech, like fog machines to disrupt burglars.
Distance's one-off promotion was also unusual as many US retailers prohibit employees from pursuing suspected shoplifters due largely to the risk of confrontations becoming violent.