[pengaru]

300->500 threshold strikes me as a relatively minor change akin to inflation, this seems unlikely to be the primary driver.

My impression is that a lot of people are struggling to make ends meet, and stealing from a walmart employed by careless slackers is always a more attractive option than from your neighbor or straight up armed mugging/robberies. I highly doubt the $500 felony threshold is what's green-lighting them vs $300.

[lockhouse]

A PS5 is more than $300 but less than $500 as an example.

[pengaru]

No single items over $200 are readily accessible in any WalMart I've been to, certainly not in the last decade. But the whole expensive electronics behind lock and key practice started long ago...