Police are searching for the suspect behind a supermarket robbery involving a suspect who held a knife at an employee's throat when he tried to stop him from leaving the store.  

Video of the robbery shows the masked robber lunging at the employee with a knife after the employee tried to stop the suspect from fleeing. Thankfully, that employee was not hurt.  

Eddie Varges, owner of Pioneer Supermarket, says he’s seen a spike in shoplifting in recent years after working in the grocery industry for 25 years.  

As the owner of several stores across New York City, he wants to remind his employees of one important thing: “you can’t put your life in danger for groceries.”

“I want my employees to feel safe, I want them to feel that when they’re coming to work, they’re at a safe environment,” said Varges.  

According to the NYPD, 327 people were arrested over 6,000 times for retail theft, with more than half of them being convicted felons – something Varges says is scaring people away from this line of work.  

"We had an incident about six months ago where an employee decided not to come back to work because of an incident outside the neighborhood,” said Varges.  

Varges says that his store’s security cameras only provide so much safety and is urging lawmakers in Albany and here in New York City to enact change and make shoplifting have a higher conviction.