A POPULAR grocery store chain is implementing new "intimidating" security procedures, leaving customers searching for other stores to shop at.

A Kroger-owned store has begun requiring customers to have their receipts checked as they exit, and now shoppers will need to pass through armed security guards. 

Armed guards are standing at the entrance of a supermarket to check customers' receiptsCredit: 9 NewsSigns are posted near the exit informing customers to show their receiptCredit: 9 NewsKing Soopers is facing backlash over the guards (stock image)Credit: Getty

King Soopers, a supermarket chain in Colorado, now has a security guard wearing a neon vest and holster that appears to be holding a weapon, who checks customers' receipts.

“It just doesn't make sense to have someone armed like that intimidating customers on their way out,” shopper Pilar Chapa told NBC affiliate KUSA.

According to Chapa, the guard used to stand in front of the in-store Starbucks, but has since moved to the store entrance.

“The security guards have their backs to the entrance. They have no idea who is coming in,” Chapa said.

READ MORE ON RECEIPT CHECKS

“They’re just watching customers as they buy their product.”

The supermarket did put up signs warning shoppers about the receipt check, but a spokesperson for King Soopers did not answer questions about whether the guard is armed with a lethal weapon.

They also did not elaborate on the consequences of not showing a receipt upon exit.

“We do not share specific details of our safety and security practices in order to protect their effectiveness,” spokesperson Jessica Trowbridge wrote in a statement to KUSA. 

“Safety remains one of our core values and continues to guide our decisions.”

Chris Howes, the president of the Colorado Retail Council, told KUSA that the armed guards are necessary to protect grocery store staff.

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“Each retailer has to take the steps that they feel are necessary to keep their staff and their customers and all their products safe,” Howes said.

“It’s unfortunate it has to go that way, but we’ve seen people have their arms broken…and one retail [worker] was bear-sprayed.”

Howes said that retail crime is a billion-dollar problem in the state, which will lead retailers to find their own solution to the issue. 

INTIMIDATION TACTIC

Chapa said she was previously told that she didn’t need to show her receipt as she exited, but when she walked past a line of people showing their receipts, she claimed she was reprimanded. 

“I just walked around, and [the guard] reached out around and stopped me,” Chapa said. 

“I said, ‘I thought you said I didn't have to show you that I'd have to do that.’ And he said, ‘Well, I will always ask you for your receipt, and you need to say, no, thank you.’”

“It really angered me," she said. 

"You know, normally I wouldn't get that angry. It's a freaking receipt.”

Trowbridge stated that, after a thorough investigation, no incident was reported on the day Chapa claimed she was stopped.

The shopper said she’s not bothered by having to show her receipt, as she has been doing so at Costco for 15 years, 

However, it's the fact that she needs to show her receipt to a seemingly armed security guard that bothers her. 

“This guard looks like he’s ready to go into a war zone. He’s wearing a bulletproof vest,” she said.

Chapa called the guard there “an intimidation tactic,” and swore off the store.

 “I'm not shopping here anymore. That's it for me. I have other options.”

The changes at King Shoppa haven’t just frustrated Chapa. 

A post of the KUSA article on Reddit has garnered over 600 comments, with many complaints about the change and the self-checkout policies of grocery stores in general.

“​​They don’t ask every departing customer, they don’t match the receipt against items in the basket or bag, they’re not always at the door as you leave,” one Reddit user wrote.

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“In one KS store, there were two security guards just gabbing at the end of self-checkout while I was using self-checkout, and they asked for my receipt.

"I told them if they had been paying attention instead of gabbing, they would have noticed me scan, bag & pay.”