Downtown Tauranga stores are being urged to remain on high alert following a recent spike in retail shopping thefts.

Devonport Road fashion stores Supré and Glassons have informed Downtown Tauranga and Police they were targeted by a group of four teenage girls aged between 11 and 17-years-old on a shoplifting spree.

Inner city stores Supré and Glassons have both been targeted by young shoplifters.

Both stores reported the girls had taken items from the CBD stores at some stage yesterday, but neither store would confirm the cash value, or number of items taken.

The thefts come after Supré earlier this month reported an increase in attempted thefts by groups of shoppers.

SunLive believe one of Supré's shop assistants was assaulted by a woman in her mid-20s as she fled the store while a group of a dozen women aged 14 to 30-years-old targeted the store in a separate incident.

Supré women's clothing store manager Stacey Handley says the thefts are disappointing, but is unable to disclose any further information on instruction from Supré's head office in Australia.

'It [details of the theft] really, really helps.

'The whole community is really backing us and is really helpful. After yesterday's incident everyone was behind us.”

Stacey admits shoplifting is a frustrating problem that needs to be fixed. She encourages all retailers to work together to stop this form of theft from happening.

Downtown Tauranga manager Kirby Weis cannot emphasise the importance of businesses sticking together and informing police and Mainstreet if they are targeted by thieves.

'Whenever there is a theft it's a concern.

'The more vigilant we are in this type of activity the less the city centre is a target as word soon gets around that thieves will be caught.”

He admits the CBD is having a 'little bit of a spike” in shop thefts but insists they are undertaking the correct procedures to stamp it out.

'Police are alerted because then it gets logged into their system. With a surge in crime in the area police can look to allocate more resources or work with businesses.

'These things do sometimes come in cycles. We have noticed with Glassons and Supré that it does appear in the last week they have noticed more shop lifts.”

Tauranga Community Constable Matt Elliott has been informed of the incidents will be investigating further. He is meeting with retailers early next week.

After previously meeting with Mainstreet staff, Matt says he has some 'things in the pipeline” for the retailers to generate a collective awareness about the severity of the issue.

'It's just about awareness and we [police] just need to know that it's going on and sometimes the stores aren't recording it because of time constraints or store policies.”