Despite a rise in the number of shoplifting incidents in the city – and across the country – the centre’s manager Neil Mackie said their main issue was currently bad behaviour from younger visitors.
With regular issues being reported at the nearby bus station, he said the centre is not exempt from trouble.
“The biggest problem we have at the moment is with antisocial behaviour – it isn’t theft but malicious damage,” he said. “It is a huge problem and that is Scotland wide.
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“Partly, it is a political problem. We are finding, talking to my colleagues, there are groups of travelling individuals coming in because they are not paying for the bus fares.
“It is not just the Kingsgate and it has an impact. The more we have to repair, the more the service charge has to increase. It is a vicious circle and I hate to say that a lot of it goes back to politics.”
The UK-wide increase in shoplifting incidents is also being experienced among businesses at the Kingsgate Centre.
Mr Mackie continued: “I am a director of retailers against crime in Scotland. The retail theft problem is massively increasing. It is becoming a parliamentary issue. It has been raised in the the Scottish Parliament as well as Westminster. It is a national problem.
“I think we (the Kingsgate Centre) are probably controlling it as well as we possibly can and are probably better than others but there is a massive rise and it is down to the cost of living crisis.
“Before, what we would see was perpetrators were those funding habits and that type of thing. Now, it is much more people actually stealing to live and it is Scotland wide. It is a scary issue.
“From our point of view, it is really a case of trying to see the woods from the trees.”