A second generation supermarket owner and her three siblings run five grocery stores in the Bronx.

“Our family has been in the Bronx for over 20 years. We have always dealt with shoplifting. Our concern now is that it's coming with a heavy sense of violence,” Nallely De Jesus told NY1 in an interview on Tuesday.

Over the past three years, De Jesus says thieves are emboldened.

That’s why she’s retrained cashiers and shelf stockers to act like security guards — not just to protect what’s for sale, but also, themselves.

“People come into this market and grab a detergent and walk out of the store like they own it. And if we stop them, then that's when the aggressions begin. So I have employees that have been maced, I have employees that have, you know, been victims of gun violence,” De Jesus said.

Shoplifters target items they can sell, like fish, cheese and beer.

They will wear baggy clothes to help smuggle items.

When employees catch a potential thief, De Jesus says they first try convincing them to give back the goods.

Workers then snap photos of the thieves to circulate internally or text as a warning to neighboring businesses.

But some altercations become violent.

“In 2021, we had a shoplifter who came in five times. The fifth time, we escorted him out of the store. He got upset and he started yelling that he was going to come back with a gun and we all brushed it off,” De Jesus said.

“He showed up with a rifle in a plastic bag and that caused so much tension in the neighborhood and the community. We lost sales for about a couple of weeks,” she added.

De Jesus shared security footage of the incident with NY1. The individual chased her brother, and once he was out of sight, left the store. De Jesus said the man was not caught by law enforcement.

She has installed 40 security cameras within her store, Associated Supermarkets, on East 167th Street. There’s also security systems at the other supermarkets her family owns, under the Food Universe Marketplace, SuperFresh and Associated banners.

She plans to hire a full-time security guard should a new business tax credit pass into law, proposed under Gov. Kathy Hochul’s state budget.

“They can't ever trust anymore that when the door opens and someone comes in, that they won't be robbed as a result of that encounter. And it's frustrating and a lot of people who work in these jobs are getting hurt,” Hochul said Tuesday at an unrelated event in Rochester.

Meanwhile, nonprofit security professionals are refining patrols in business districts.

Brian McGinn serves as vice president of security and sanitation for the 34th Street Partnership and the Bryant Park Corporation. He leads over 60 security guards who cover areas like Bryant Park and Penn Station.

“We put together a program we started in January. All of the security officers — whether in Bryant Park if there’s stores around here or 34th Street Partnership — we started doing visits to the pharmacies. Since January, we've done 78 visits,” McGinn told NY1.

A former NYPD deputy chief, McGinn says he’s working with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.

“We’re talking about doing a trespass affidavit program now with the [district attorney's] office on top of our visits, which is great. So we're trying to get the pharmacies to do this. But let's put into place what are going to be the consequences if the person violates the trespass order?”

McGinn likes Hochul’s proposed joint efforts between local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

“The tax credits for more security officers, great. Charging assaults on retail workers with felonies, beautiful. There's got to be consequences. If there's no consequences, nothing's going to work,” McGinn said.

Retailers lose billions yearly due to theft, according to the Retail Council of New York State.