Retail and Hospitality

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.–The Mall of America, near here, began catching flak last week after NPR aired a report accusing the mall's security staff of racial profiling and providing "intelligence spam" to local and federal law enforcement. But the mall is firing back, accusing NPR of ignoring relevant information to draw its own biased conclusions about its security efforts.

STURGIS, S.D.–Every August half a million bikers descend on this small town in South Dakota for the country’s largest motorcycle rally. The Full Throttle Saloon, at the heart of the week-long rally, caters to roughly 30,000 bikers a day and handles millions of dollars in cash over the course of the rally. This is not your average bar. The Full Throttle has 15 acres of bar space and more than 100 bartenders working at any one time during the rally, according to Chris Donahue, the bar’s spokesman. The bar’s website claims it is “the world’s largest biker bar.”

WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla.—For the first time in 10 years, the number of shoplifter apprehensions and the money recovered from those apprehensions decreased in 2010 from the year before, according to the 23rd Annual Retail Theft Survey conducted by Jack L. Hayes International, a consulting firm specializing in retail security and loss prevention, which is based here.

DALLAS—Should physical security practitioners pursue industry-specific certifications or bigger-picture undergrad and graduate degrees? During an educational session, Getting to the Next Step: Many Routes to Take, at the National Retail Federation Loss Prevention Conference in Dallas on June 15, three prominent loss prevention professionals shared their views on education.