(a) Many retail establishments provide shopping carts for the convenience of their customers.
Shopping carts are sometimes removed from the premises of the retail establishment
and left abandoned on public or private property, creating a public nuisance and a
potential hazard to the health and safety of the public. The proliferation of lost,
stolen or abandoned shopping carts causes blighting conditions in the community, results
in the obstruction of free access to public and private sidewalks, streets, parking
lots and other ways, interferes with pedestrian and vehicular traffic on public and
private streets and impedes emergency services.
(b) The purpose of this article is to set forth regulations to ensure that measures are
taken by the owners and operators of retail businesses that provide shopping carts
for the convenience of customers, to prevent the removal of shopping carts from business
premises and parking lots, and to provide for the prompt retrieval of lost, stolen
or abandoned shopping carts, to complement and supplement provisions of state law
and to adopt local regulations to the extent not otherwise preempted by state statute.
