At Loide & Co., Tanger Outlet’s newly opened non-toxic candle company, find your favorite fragrance to bring aromatic life to a space. 

Owner Loide DiPippa uses a pure soy wax and eco-friendly cotton wicks, scented with non-toxic candle oil. Classic smells like cinnamon, vanilla and lavender fill the store’s shelves. DiPippa also makes tropical varieties, a limoncello creme candle and a cooling martini scent among others. 

“Our candle tells a story but you have to unfold yours,” says DiPippa.

Candles are not the only thing you’ll find at the sleek, white-walled aroma hub. DiPippa also sells her own alcohol-free room spray made from a water-based formula blended with fragrance oils and odor-eliminating plant-based enzymes. 

Read more about Loide & Co. candles and products on northforker.com

The post Handcrafted candles light up Tanger Outlets at Loide & Co. appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

Organized by the Riverhead Rotary, the festival runs all week until Mother’s Day, May 11, at Tanger Outlets from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day. While the focus is beautifying gardens, the gardenias, sculpted lavender plants, petunias, marigolds and many more varieties available provide several charities on the North Fork with thousands of dollars in funding. 

“This is the 29^th year and it gets bigger every year,” said Dr. Rajesh Patel, a member of the Riverhead Rotary’s Garden festival committee and a private practice pulmonologist in Riverhead. “Everything from flowers to flats are donated. We start working months in advance — getting permits for the big tent, going out to local growers and nurseries, coordinating the deliveries and setting up the entire project.” 

The Rotary has roughly 50 members who work in shifts during the eight days of the garden festival, and volunteers from the Riverhead ROTC and Timothy Hill Ranch pitch in too. Last year, the event raised $250,000, proceeds that go to the Rotary, Peconic Bay Medical Center and Operation International, of which Dr. Patel is a member.

“Operation International has been in existence for 27 years providing free medical missions in 29 countries to perform major surgery in all specialties: dental, EMT, neurosurgery and gynecology to name a few. We were just in Laos in March and we performed 100 surgeries,” said Dr. Patel. 

He said the Rotary will also use the proceeds to support East End community projects such as food pantries, Toys for Tots, scholarships and Christmas and Thanksgiving baskets to the needy.

“For all the people who come and buy even a single plant, it touches someone’s life and that’s a wonderful thing. It changes someone’s life for the positive and their livelihoods,” Dr. Patel said. 

Pushing a cart with an oversized bright red geranium and two peonies, Greg Brown came all the way from Sag Harbor as he’s done for five consecutive years. “They’ve got good deals and I want to support the health facilities,” he said. Gesturing to his plants he kidded that “the perennials look great now, but if the deer are hungry, the plants might get eaten — but they’ll come back next year even stronger!”

Gardening-lover Maureen Karpilovsky of Calverton was loading up her cart too.

“I donated $200 to the Rotary, so that gives me $300 in Rotary dollars to spend here,” she said. Ms. Karpilovsky also said the red and dark pink mandevillas she bought are going to be gifts for her daughters-in-law come Mother’s Day.

Spending the day at the festival with his “nana and papa,” 12-year-old Avery Masem of East Northport had his eye on the rhododendrons. “I like having my hands in the dirt,” he said.

The first woman president of the Riverhead Rotary in the 1980s and a current Rotary garden committee member, Sherry Patterson said the festival is the first sign of spring for plant-lovers.

“We get people who come every year as we’re transitioning into the warmer weather. The raffle tickets go very quickly, everything is reasonably priced and I think people feel good knowing they are supporting the Rotary,” she said.

Pulling it all together is a major undertaking. The tables get set up Thursday night, and the trucks start coming in the Friday before the opening, loaded with donations from as far away as New Jersey.

“Joe Van de Wetering started it all with Central Suffolk Hospital 29 years ago. Then his brother Jack asked the Riverhead Rotary to take it over when the hospital no longer had the manpower to run it, and we’ve been doing it ever since. Jack, who is 84, actually flies to New Jersey to bring Snowflake ice cream and Briermere’s pies to the nurseries where the big truckloads come from as a thank you to the people who are loading the trucks,” said Ms. Patterson. She said that he also does that with many of the local nurseries. 

One volunteer who has seen it all come together many times is Judy Barth, a festival volunteer for 28 years.

“I like the people here. I’m the veteran. It’s just what I do because I can!” she joked. The former owner of a gardening business on what is now Wendy’s in Riverhead, “this event gives me my yearly fix of retail gardening!”

The post Riverhead Rotary Garden Festival digs in at Tanger appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

On June 29 at about 2:40 p.m., Riverhead police received numerous calls reporting that a woman had been robbed in the parking lot of Tanger Outlets. 

Police responded to the scene and were able to immediately detain the suspect, who was found hiding behind a bush near one of the Tanger parking lots. 

Town detectives also responded and conducted an investigation, which determined that the female victim, 44, was visiting from out of state and had fallen asleep in the backseat of a friend’s vehicle that was parked in the lot while her friends were shopping, police said.

The victim reported that she woke up and saw a man’s arm reaching through the open passenger-side window, then holding her down as she was lying on the backseat of the vehicle, police said. 

While forcibly holding her down, the suspect reached into the vehicle with his other arm and attempted to remove the victim’s purse, which also contained her debit card. 

A struggle for the purse ensued, and the suspect was able to take it from the woman and flee on foot. 

The victim, who reported minor injuries as a result of the incident, said she exited the vehicle and chased after the subject, screaming and alerting others in the area that she’d just been robbed. 

Two good Samaritans observed her, and the fleeing suspect, and assisted by chasing after the suspect, police said. Additional witnesses also observed the subject’s flight and alerted the victim and Riverhead police. 

The suspect was identified as Shawn Collins, 35, who is homeless but frequents the Riverhead area. He was wearing a black ski mask when he was apprehended. Police were able to recover the victim’s purse and debit card. A Riverhead K-9 unit also recovered a GPS ankle bracelet that had been removed and discarded by Mr. Collins, police said. 

Mr. Collins was subsequently arrested and transported to Riverhead police headquarters, where he was processed on a charge of third-degree robbery, a class D felony, and held for arraignment. 

Anyone who may have witnessed the incident or has information pertaining to the case is asked to call Riverhead detectives at 631-727-4500. 

All calls will be kept confidential.

The post Suspect in attempted robbery nabbed at Tanger appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

The mall’s operators had requested that the permitted uses at the outlet center be expanded, and Town Board members voiced support for Tanger last month, noting that it is Riverhead’s biggest tax revenue generator.

The board held a public hearing last month on a number of proposed new uses that could be allowed at Tanger, which is the only property in town that falls under the “manufacturers outlet center overlay” zoning designation. 

The amendment changes the name of that to the “manufacturers outlet and retail sales center, interior design showroom and trade center and specialty grocery, food stores and markets center.” It will also allow indoor activities such as an arcade, virtual reality games and billiards.

The new zoning prohibits flea markets, gas stations, motor vehicle sales, car washes and printing plants. Medical offices are also banned, as are hotel lodging and overnight accommodations, beauty parlors, adult stores and sales of cannabis and electronic cigarettes.

The amendment limits the number of food courts to two, but it gives the tenant the option of replacing one of those with a restaurant. That restaurant, however, would not be permitted to have signage on Route 58, according to deputy town attorney Anne Marie Prudenti. 

An indoor theater was previously permitted at Tanger, although none was ever built. The amendment now allows new theaters that offer dining, comfortable seating and alcoholic beverages, Ms. Prudenti said. 

“This is a national trend that’s going on because retail has taken a big hit with online shopping,” Supervisor Tim Hubbard said at last month’s public hearing on Tanger’s request. 

The outlet center has also become a significant target of retail crime. The proposed amendment had been in the works for to years, according to Ms. Prudenti.

“This is necessary, everybody knows what’s happening in retail,” Councilman Bob Kern said at the public hearing.

The Riverhead Chamber of Commerce also sent a letter in support. 

Several Route 58 stores have recently closed, including Christmas Tree Shops, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Big Lots. But officials said those closures were part of nationwide downsizings, and that Tanger had nothing to do with their going out of business.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY TIM GANNON

The post Town Board OKs new biz options at Tanger  appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

• Jermell Dixon, 33, of Mastic was arrested Saturday after allegedly stealing $3,600 worth of products from the Polo Ralph Lauren factory store at Tanger. She was charged with third-degree grand larceny, a Class D felony, third-degree possession of stolen property, driving while intoxicated and false personation. A second suspect, described as a “heavyset Black female wearing a dark color hat, black ski mask, gray sweat shirt and black shoes” was not located. Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the Riverhead Police Department at 631-727-4500. All calls will be kept confidential.

• Julio Guamanrriga, 19, of Riverside was arrested Friday in Riverside after allegedly getting into an altercation with another person. Mr. Guamanrriga allegedly threw a glass bottle of beer at the victim’s head, striking it and causing visible injury, according to police. He has been charged with second-degree assault with intent to cause physical injury with weapons or instruments. 

Those who are named in police reports have not been convicted of any crime or violation. The charges against them may later be reduced or withdrawn, or they may be found innocent.

The post Blotters: Arrest after alleged theft at Tanger Polo Ralph Lauren appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

The Polo Ralph Lauren Factory Store at Tanger Outlets logged the most 911 calls for shoplifting — 39 in one year — followed by the UGG store, with 24, and H&M, with 16 calls, according to police records from March 18, 2022, to March 18, 2023. In all, 222 such calls from 50 different Tanger stores were made during this period. 

Experts say that sustained and extensive retail theft is not unique to the Riverhead mall, but rather part of a vexing nationwide boom in organized retail crime. Various studies estimate the annual losses to major U.S. retailers from this type of crime range from $80 billion to more than $100 billion.

Last month, Riverhead News-Review sought a year’s worth of records of 911 calls emanating from the Tanger Outlets property to try and quantify the amount of shoplifting being reported there, after Riverhead Police Chief Hegermiller noted at a March civic meeting that Tanger is “probably the biggest” driver of property crime statistics townwide. 

Petit larceny, stolen property valued at less than $1,000, is a misdemeanor in the state of New York. A property theft is deemed grand larceny, a felony, when more than $1,000 worth of goods or merchandise is stolen. 

The records request also followed in the wake of a rare armed carjacking on March 10 of a Banana Republic outlet store employee’s vehicle, a crime that to date remains unsolved. Mr. Hegermiller said armed carjackings are so uncommon in Riverhead that he couldn’t recall the last time one occurred.

Mr. Hegermiller said in an interview this week that while the statistics for shoplifting in the past year at Tanger mark a 10-year high, that designation can be misleading. 

“I don’t want Tanger to sound like the crime capital of Riverhead, because it’s not,” he said. He said that to get an accurate comparison of shoplifting elsewhere in Riverhead, you’d have to compare one store to another. “You have I don’t know how many stores in there currently, all at one address. It’s not just Walmart, it’s dozens of Walmarts in one location.” According to Tanger’s website, there are more than 140 stores currently operating in the complex. 

At Riverhead News Review’s request, the chief reviewed yearly shoplifting statistics at Tanger Outlets over the past decade and found that the records of 911 calls from March 2022 to March 2023 were the highest, compared with the total number of larceny 911 calls from Tanger in 2017 (181), and in 2022 (193). 

Spokespersons for the Polo Ralph Lauren Factory Store, UGG and H & M did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the data. 

In a statement, Tanger Outlets management said that “Tanger continually evaluates its security protocols at each location to ensure they are robust and effective; utilizing the latest technology to constantly improve the programs we have in place. 

“While we cannot share the details of our security enhancements, our management team is working closely with our corporate security, retail partners and the Riverhead Police Department to ensure the well-being of our employees, shoppers and retailers.”

Jacque Brittain, editorial director at Loss Prevention Magazine, which tracks the retail security industry, and other industry veterans said the rise in organized retail crime nationwide can be attributed to multiple intersecting factors, including the growth in online retail platforms to resell stolen goods; reluctance by some retailers to report or prosecute retail thefts for fear of alienating or frightening customers; a lack of precise national statistics to measure and quantify the problem and higher priority crimes that necessarily take precedence over larceny. 

Trade industry and retail crime experts said that the Riverhead mall is particularly vulnerable to organized retail crime and shoplifting for the same reason that it’s a popular shopping destination: easy access to the Long Island Expressway. 

“You don’t have a shoplifting problem at [Riverhead’s Tanger Outlets] — what you have is an organized retail crime problem,” said Mr. Brittain. 

Much of the retail crime at luxury goods destinations like Tanger Outlets and similar malls across America is planned and organized, he said. 

“This is not some mom stealing a baby outfit for her kid at the Gap.”

There are no nationwide uniform crime statistics that measure organized retail crime, or differentiate it from individual shoplifting incidents, according to the National Retail Federation. 

Mr. Brittain, who reviewed the Riverhead police records, acknowledged that he “can’t say with complete conviction that all these [reports] are necessarily organized retail crime.” 

Yet he contended with a hint of sarcasm that his experience covering the industry suggested most retail theft these days is organized. 

“I guess it’s possible [an individual thief] needs to change their sweater every day, so they have to steal 50 of the same sweater, but c’mon.” 

Retail industry trade groups say the problem is growing and getting worse. 

“This is every state, every city,” said Christian Beckner, the NRF’s vice president of retail technology and cybersecurity. “You see this in smaller towns and rural areas too. It looks different in different places — depending on the tactics the criminals use — but it’s everywhere.” 

“We’ve definitely seen that during the pandemic, pretty much unanimously, our retail members have indicated this is an increasing problem.” 

A threat assessment report released by the NRF earlier this year found that 70% of retailers say the threat of organized retail crime has increased in the past five years.

While focused solely on New York City crime, an analysis of NYPD crime statistics released this month by researchers at John Jay College of Criminal Justice found that petit larceny reports grew 53% at major retailers across the five boroughs, from fewer than 35,000 to nearly 55,000 incidents annually.

Mr. Brittain said that the rise of online marketplaces — from Craigslist and Amazon to eBay, Facebook Marketplace and a galaxy of phone apps — is “probably the biggest contributor to the rise in organized retail crime.”

The NRF report notes that “user-friendly online marketplaces significantly reduce barriers to entry for sellers, including ORC fences, who are able to access prospective buyers across the United States and in many overseas markets.”

The NRF study’s researchers analyzed nearly 9,000 listings on two major peer-to-peer ecommerce sites — Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace — and found that about one-quarter of those listings contained “elements associated with organized retail crime.” Researchers said in the report that their findings “are consistent with information provided by law enforcement and loss prevention professionals.” Neither Craigslist nor Facebook parent company Meta immediately responded to requests for comment on the report’s conclusions. 

Industry experts say that major U.S. retailers face a Catch 22: they fear reputational damage if they draw too much attention to crime occurring inside their stores, yet the growth in organized retail crime is collectively costing the industry tens of billions of dollars a year.  

“Above and beyond everything else,” Mr. Brittain said, major retailers fear making “the customer feels unsafe — and they quit shopping there.” 

Mr. Beckner said big brands know they often have little to gain from reporting the crimes to police. 

“We’ve seen examples where retailers were told it’s a lower priority because it’s a property crime,” said Mr. Beckner. “If you have a police department with open murder cases, or open sexual assault cases, for very understandable reasons they prioritize” those crimes. 

He said that many organized retail crime gangs intentionally steal less than $1,000 worth of merchandise, knowing the crime will be categorized as a misdemeanor. 

“The thieves know to go in and steal not more than the [felony] threshold. Even if they are arrested, there’s no ability to prosecute in any way that’s a meaningful deterrent.” 

Mr. Brittain said that in many jurisdictions, “police simply won’t respond to these incidents, and that’s not the police’s fault. They see petit larceny crimes as not that important, and a lot of that comes from the [state] legislatures: It’s more of a headline to say you busted a drug ring.” 

Some retailers, even when confronted with arrested suspects, decline to prosecute. 

“The problem is that there are some stores or businesses or corporations that don’t want to prosecute, and that’s been forever,” Mr. Hegermiller said. “Some do, some don’t.” 

Mr. Beckner said that “a lot” of organized retail crime goes unreported by business owners. “Even when retailers are aware of it, they’re not always anxious to report it, and they know that over time no action will be taken.” 

Still, he believes that brand name retailers are beginning to change longstanding attitudes towards retail theft.

“You have seen more retailers, like Target and Walmart, being more vocal about this recently,” he said. 

New technology could make a difference too.

Earlier this year, the retailer Lowe’s announced plans to use RFID tags and scanners that activate legitimately purchased products at checkout, to render items like stolen power tools useless. 

The Lowe’s products are loaded with radio frequency identification tags with unique serial numbers. When a Lowe’s product is scanned at checkout, the scanner determines whether all the RFID tags match, and if so, activates the product for use. Without the scan, a stolen Lowe’s item, like a power tool, becomes useless. It also uses blockchain technology to create a publicly accessible database of legitimate purchases of a given product, which can be accessed by retailers, manufacturers and law enforcement to authenticate legitimate purchases. The database is anonymized on the blockchain and contains no personal information, according to Lowe’s.

The post Organized retail crime blamed for surge in shoplifting at Tanger Outlets in Riverhead appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

“We have an opportunity here to grow our business,” Mr. Escobar said. “We are ambitious about our company and spreading our love and knowledge of coffee and the culture that surrounds it.” 

Last July, Mr. Escobar and Ms. Ruiz opened Cafe Victoria in the Tanger Outlet Center in Riverhead, selling a wide variety of their house made hot and cold coffee drinks and sweet treats like cookies and muffins. 

The cafe is sleek, modern and spacious. Natural wood paneling complements the black painted walls and dark furniture placed throughout. Upon walking into the cafe, you’re immediately drawn to their “rainforest wall” — an expansive, faux-forest collage with beaded lizards and frogs hidden throughout. 

“Some of our coffee comes from the rainforest in Guatemala,” said Ms. Ruiz. “It’s like having our own rainforest here. It’s our own little part of the coffee process within the cafe.” 

The shop’s name celebrates two themes. The first is Victoria, Mr. Escobar’s grandmother, who always had a cup of coffee and a cookie to offer visitors. The second is the fact that “victoria” means victory in Spanish: Mr. Escobar sees the cafe as his “victory tour” representing the success of his decade-long journey to understanding Latin American coffee culture and bringing it to the United States. 

PHOTOS BY LILLY PARNELL

“I was a cinematographer who filmed the different cultures of Latin America,” Mr. Escobar said. “Between 2009 and 2013, I had the opportunity to visit a coffee farm in Costa Rica and another friend took me to a coffee shop in Colombia. That coffee was unlike anything I had ever tasted before. I knew nothing about coffee, but I knew I needed to learn everything about it.” 

He spent the better part of the past 10 years learning about the coffee industry and the culture that surrounds it and wanted to understand why the United States lacks such a traditional coffee culture. Nearly 60% of worldwide coffee production comes from Latin America, and its connection to the region’s culture is deeply rooted. 

“No matter whose house you’re at throughout Latin America, it’s more than likely that it will smell like coffee,” Ms. Ruiz said. “Coffee is very important to our culture. We often start drinking coffee as toddlers. It connects us to our culture starting at a very young age.” 

Mr. Escobar is in direct communication with co-operative farmers in Guatemala, and Cafe Victoria knows the provenance of all of its coffees, from farm to pot to to-go cup. The business model relies on a strong emphasis on fair trade and eco-friendly production methods. 

“We are proud to say that a large percentage of our profits go back into funding the education and health of our farmers in Guatemala,” Mr. Escobar said. “There are over 280 families that help to farm our coffee beans. We invest in these communities and make sure that our coffee is sourced in the most ethical and eco-friendly way possible.” 

The beans are imported from Guatemala and roasted in Brooklyn — one of the main U.S. locales spearheading coffee culture. Prior to the launch of Cafe Victoria, the couple sold their packaged coffee beans at farmers markets throughout the Hamptons. 

Upon opening last summer, Cafe Victoria made the effort to ensure that all their baristas were professionally trained. Mr. Escobar flew in experts from Latin America to ensure that his staff was knowledgeable in the craft of the coffee-making.

“We took the time to perfect every part of our process, from farming to roasting, to the recipes we serve at our coffee bar,” Mr. Escobar said. “We are excited to share our coffee and our journey with the community.” 

The couple are constantly coming up with new ideas for the cafe. They hope to soon offer homemade jams and other delicacies with an eye to creating a mini marketplace within their cafe. They also hope to work with other stores in the community to sell and supply their coffee beans. 

“Coffee is a billion-dollar industry worldwide,” Mr. Escobar said. “Our goal with Cafe Victoria is to share the social elements of the coffee culture. We want to be a place of gathering around an amazing, ethically sourced product.” 

Cafe Victoria is located between the Forever 21 and Nautica stores at Tanger Outlets. Check out their website at cafevictoria.org

The post New Café Victoria at Tanger Outlets celebrates Latin American coffee culture appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

In an interview, Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller also confirmed that the victim of the carjacking is a Banana Republic employee and recent high school graduate whose iPhone helped authorities track the stolen car to Queens, its last known location.

Chief Hegermiller spoke Saturday at the Riverhead library in an event organized by the civic group, Heart of Riverhead. During a question-and-answer session with residents, he was asked why more police officers on foot patrols are not currently assigned to the downtown Riverhead business district. The chief said that’s not where most of the town’s crime occurs.  

He said that the Tanger mall is a leading target — possibly the leading target — of property crimes in Riverhead.

“When I look at crime town wide, I’m looking at violent crime and property crimes, and the majority of that doesn’t occur in the downtown area,” he said. “It’s happening outside that area.”

Chief Hegermiller went on to say that Tanger is “probably the biggest” magnet for crime, particularly shoplifting, in Riverhead. While he stressed that the mall is not the most dangerous location in the town, he said he believes that, statistically, there are more property crimes reported at Tanger Outlets than in any other section of town.

“All those big larcenies that happen up there are going into my crime statistics as property crimes and [Tanger] is the biggest one, I think,” the police chief said. He estimated that there were more than a dozen incidents of shoplifting reported at the mall last month. A property theft is deemed grand larceny, a felony, when more than $1,000 worth of goods or merchandise is stolen.  

In a statement, Tanger Outlets management said that “Tanger Outlets Riverhead is committed to the safety and wellbeing of our retailers and guests.

“We maintain a close working relationship with the Town of Riverhead Police Department and value our partnership. While we have a robust security program in place, Tanger routinely evaluates and assesses our security measures relative to increased center traffic. At Riverhead specifically, we are currently implementing additional measures to ensure a welcoming environment for our community.”

Earlier this month, both the Polo Ralph Lauren outlet store and the GAP outlet store reported shoplifting crimes, according to police. Polo Ralph Lauren employees reported three women collectively stealing about $500 worth of merchandise, while GAP employees reported four men stealing four bags of clothing with an unspecified value.

Managers at the GAP declined to comment, but a manager at Polo Ralph Lauren, who asked not to be named, took the recent theft in stride, saying that “wherever you go in this country, where you have retail stores, you’re going to have shoplifting.”

Other employees at Tanger Outlets stores were not so sanguine.

“There’s a huge shoplifting problem here,” said an employee at a Tanger Outlets store situated near the Banana Republic, who requested anonymity, “so I don’t lose my job,” she said.

The employee’s colleague, who has worked at the mall for a number of years, agreed, noting that “Tanger is not known for its security.” The colleague recalled that four years ago, while working in another store in the mall, female employees were routinely escorted to their cars by security guards in the evenings.

A Brooks Brothers manager who has worked at different shops within Tanger Outlets said the mall holds twice-annual meetings for all the store managers, and that one took place shortly before the carjacking.

“They were already talking about installing cameras for security, but that’s mostly to deal with shoplifting,” said the manager, who also requested anonymity to protect their position.

Another employee at Brooks Brothers said she typically only sees security in the evening hours when the mall is closing and on peak traffic days.

Meanwhile, employees at the Banana Republic outlet where the carjacking took place have been told by superiors to leave their cars in a section of the parking lot visible from inside the store, and many of the staffers are now carrying pepper spray, according to store manager Anisha Cannon, 20.

“We got hit out of nowhere,” Ms. Cannon said. Unlike most Tanger Outlets stores, which sit side by side along lengthy stretches of the commercial corridor, the Banana Republic store is situated in a standalone building, beside an empty storefront. Ms. Cannon said that the isolation from other stores is worrisome.

“It’s very scary because we’re the only people here,” she said. “You don’t know what could happen to you or to your car.”

She said the store’s employees are “still showing up, but they’re worried, and they are staying very alert.”

“I started carrying pepper spray,” she said, describing herself as one of numerous employees now doing so.

A spokesman for Banana Republic, which is owned by The Gap, Inc., did not immediately respond to a request for comment on security at the Riverhead store.

Ms. Cannon said the victim of the carjacking had just finished a shift shortly before 4 p.m. on March 10 and was sitting in his 2021 Kia Seltos with the driver’s side door unlocked when he was accosted, dragged from the car and threatened with a box cutter before the perpetrator drove away with his car.

“The reason the man was able to get in was [that] he was sitting in the car with the doors unlocked,” Ms. Cannon explained. “So the guy was able to open the car door and drag him out.”

Ms. Cannon said the victim, who did not respond to a request conveyed through her for an interview, “was definitely shook up.”

“He’s still trying to process what happened,” she said, a week after the incident. “This is shocking. It’s never happened here before.”

Chief Hegermiller said he could not immediately recall another armed carjacking unfolding at Tanger Outlets.

Ms. Cannon said that after the carjacking, the victim — a recent high school graduate — ran back into the store to “call 911 and to call his mom.”

Ms. Cannon said the victim was able to help police track the car using iPhone’s “Find my Phone” function, which allowed police to track the car to Queens, a detail that the police chief confirmed in an interview on Saturday.

Chief Hegermiller said no matter where you park, vigilance and awareness of one’s surroundings are always vital to staying safe.

“If you’re sitting in your car, keep your doors locked, keep the windows up. It’s the same thing if it’s parked in your driveway,” he said. “This is a crime of opportunity.”

Anyone with information about the carjacking is asked to contact the Riverhead Police Department’s detective division at 631-727-4500.

The post Armed carjacking underscores ongoing crime crisis at Tanger appeared first on Riverhead News Review.