Is shoplifitng theft?

According to the BBC News Website, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4477596.stm, around 3.5 million people have admitted to shoplifting in the past five years. So what is shoplifting? Shoplifting is stealing from a store during its opening hours. However, one issue that can be raised might be is shoplifting any different to any other kind of theft? This is debatable as some people would say it is because you are taking something that is not yours to take whereas others may disagree and argue that theft is taking a persons actual belonging whereas shoplifting is taking something from a company. There is no one answer to this as different people do it for different reasons as it may be due to boredom, peer pressure, addiction or might not be able to afford it. People might be attracted to shoplifting because others have done it and gotten away with it or it may be because they see it as a way of getting something for free. However a big problem here is people might not tell the truth as if they are not caught they may deny ever shoplifting and if they admit to it they might not tell the truth on what it is they really stole. A big issue that made the media last year was when a priest suggested that it was alright to shoplift in certain circumstances . An article on this and what he said in defense can be found on http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/uk/priest+defends+shoplifting+sermon/3474237. When it comes to shoplifting, i think that it is not as emotionally distressing for those involved as robbery (e.g armed) but it still can affect a lot of people, e.g family of the shoplifter if caught ( embarrassment e.t.c), shop workers, company's head office, security workers e.t.c. It can also be expensive as security has to be looked at which not only costs quite a bit of money but is also time-consuming. I also believe that it is theft as when a person is charged with shoplifting it is charged under theft. The following is a picture showing a warning sign which warns potential shop-lifters what will happen if they are caught: