NRF says retail security now spans every Big Lots team

Retail security is no longer a back-room loss-prevention job. NRF PROTECT 2026 is built around a wider threat picture, one that folds loss prevention, asset protection, digital fraud, global risk management, and the safety of people and assets into the same conversation for June 8-10 at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine, Texas.

That matters for Big Lots because the industry is increasingly treating one incident as a convergence problem. A refund scam can become a fraud case, a safety issue for associates, and a security alert for management. NRF’s event materials say retailers are meant to use the NRF Fusion Center to work with law enforcement, mall security and Organized Retail Crime Associations, reflecting how quickly theft, digital abuse and physical risk now overlap on the sales floor and in the parking lot.

The timing is not accidental. Loss Prevention Media scheduled a webinar, “The Human Impact of Workplace Violence,” for Thursday, May 21, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. EST, underscoring that the conversation now extends beyond shrink and into the people being asked to confront trouble in real time. NRF also announced four 2026 Ring of Excellence Award recipients on May 13, with the winners set to be recognized at NRF PROTECT on June 9 in Grapevine, another sign that the industry is putting more weight on asset-protection leadership.

For Big Lots, the stakes are sharper because the company’s own restructuring has forced every level of the operation to think differently about risk. Big Lots filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 9, 2024, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Its initial plan called for a sale of the business to Nexus Capital Management for about $760 million, and the company then moved through a wave of store-closure announcements that affected hundreds of locations.

That backdrop helps explain why NRF’s latest crime data is getting attention. In the association’s 2025 Impact of Retail Theft and Violence report, 70 companies representing 168 brands responded to an online survey of senior loss prevention and security executives conducted from June to August 2025. A separate State of Retail Safety survey by the Loss Prevention Research Council and Verkada polled 1,000 retail workers in the summer of 2025 and found escalating concerns about feeling unsafe on the job, with some workers saying personal safety worries could push them to leave.

For Big Lots teams, the practical lesson is plain: security is not just for the people wearing the badge or managing the camera system. It now reaches cashiers handling refunds, supervisors writing incident reports, and store leaders deciding how fast to respond when fraud, organized theft or violence starts moving in the same direction.