Why are shops moving Pokémon cards and popular toys behind the till?

Dozens of independent shops and one of the UK's biggest retailers have told Newsround they are moving popular products, including Pokémon cards and NeeDoh toys, away from open shelves to stop them from being stolen.

John Lewis, the department store business that owns Waitrose, told Newsround that in some shops Pokémon cards "are located in customer kiosks which help keep our products secure."

Other large stores have taken similar steps, including HMV which previously moved Pokémon cards behind its counters because of high demand and the risk of theft.

Smaller independent shops told Newsround they've had to 'buy cabinets to lock popular items up' to avoid them being stolen.

Taking something from a shop without paying for it is called shoplifting, and it is against the law.

Police recorded just over half a million shoplifting offences across England and Wales between April 2025 and the end of March 2026.

That works out at around 1,375 recorded offences every day.

The total was 5% lower than the previous year, but it was still 50% higher than ten years earlier.

More than half of shoplifting investigations were completed without police identifying a suspect.

Fewer than one in four recorded offences resulted in someone being charged or going to court.

Being charged means someone has been officially accused of a crime, but it does not mean they have been found guilty.

Speaking to the BBC, the government's policing minister, Sarah Jones MP, said:

"I think for too long, retail crime wasn't taken seriously enough. And we got to a point where people think it's part of everyday life. It's something we all have to accept.

"[We] Absolutely should not accept it. We need to bear down on it.

We are starting to make progress... but we all know there is a lot further that we need to go and a lot more that we need to do."