Poundland co-founder Steve Smith has warned that soaring levels of shoplifting are pushing up prices for shoppers and could lead to further store closures across the UK.

Smith, who opened the first Poundland store in 1990, said shop theft was presenting retailers with their biggest challenge in more than two decades.

He estimated that theft could be costing UK businesses more than £18bn a year, arguing that the true scale of losses was significantly higher than official figures suggest.

Smith said retailers operating in areas with particularly high levels of shoplifting would ultimately be forced to pass some of those costs on to customers through higher prices.

“In certain towns where shoplifting is on the increase, you’ll find that prices will go up in the town so it’s costing everybody money,” he told the BBC.

Smith warned the problem could also contribute to more store closures unless retailers and the government step up efforts to tackle repeat offenders.

Shop theft remains at historically high levels despite signs that recorded offences have started to ease.

The latest Office for National Statistics figures show police recorded 507,086 shoplifting offences in England and Wales in the year to March 2026, down four per cent against the previous year.

However, the ONS said levels remain elevated following sharp increases in recent years and acknowledged that shoplifting is significantly underreported.

The British Retail Consortium has also warned that theft remains deeply embedded across the sector.

Its 2026 Crime Report found retailers recorded around 5.5 million incidents of customer theft during the year covered by its survey, with known losses reaching £408m. Retailers spent almost £1bn on loss-prevention measures during the same period.

Smith said some retailers remained reluctant to intervene directly because of the risk of violence towards staff.

He pointed to an incident at a Greggs store in Birmingham, where he said a customer took food without paying before returning to take further products after being challenged by workers.

Retailers have increasingly invested in measures including CCTV, body-worn cameras, security guards and anti-theft technology as they seek to protect staff and stock.

Smith said more action was needed from both businesses and authorities, warning that without further intervention the problem risked becoming more severe.

Policing minister Sarah Jones said the recent decline in recorded shoplifting showed progress was being made, but acknowledged there was “a lot further” to go.

The government said it was also examining how to deal with persistent offenders, including those whose offending is linked to drug addiction, alongside tougher enforcement and treatment programmes.

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