MEMPHIS, Tenn. — City Gear stores, a business started in Memphis, have been targeted dozens of times by smash-and-grab burglars. But corporate managers say they are still committed to the community.

Last month, hooded thieves grabbed box after box of sneakers from this City Gear in South Memphis.

A video showed the group returned a second time as crews were trying to make repairs after four cars smashed into the side of the building just hours before. In that case, the crooks made it inside and got away with thousands of dollars worth of merchandise.

“What we’re experiencing here in Memphis is a bit unusual,” said Mark Gunn, the senior vice president and chief human resources officer of Hibbett City Gear.

The company told us its Memphis stores have been targeted more than 60 times so far this year. Gunn was in Memphis Wednesday to speak with City Gear employees about tackling the break-ins.

“They’re trying to balance showing up and offering our customers the service that they need and balance also having the customer feel safe,” Gunn said.

The company has beefed up security at stores, including adding canines to help patrol, adding live cameras, and is working closely with law enforcement.

Last weekend, police told us a store employee at the Whitehaven location shot a customer accused of making threats. In a statement, the company told us the employee was terminated.

“Not the norm, right? We serve hundreds of thousands of customers a day in our stores. This incident that happened in the store was absolutely unfortunate but it’s not the norm,” Gunn said.

But Gunn acknowledged how shocking the break-ins are becoming.

“For me when I see it personally, it really is about what’s going on in people’s lives and how do we help because we strategically place our stores in mostly underserved communities,” Gunn said. “And what we mean by underserved communities is the whole concept behind City Gear and why we created the company was to be able to give our customers name-brand merchandise that they would otherwise not be able to have access to unless they went outside of their communities.”

Gunn says they will do whatever they have to do and work with whoever to bring change.

“We gotta meet with city officials. We gotta meet with people in the neighborhoods. Do we create a ‘rat on your friends program?’ Doing it in a safe way, but how do we provide safe environments, right?” he said. “We’re not gonna give up, and we’re not going away. We’re digging in.”

If you know anything about any of these crimes, call CrimeStoppers at 901-528-CASH.