Have you been frustrated on your most recent Target run by the retailer's practice of locking up the exact item you need — be it toothpaste, vitamins or underwear — behind protective glass, requiring the extra step of finding a worker to unlock said item? If you have, you're not alone.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek feels your pain, reporting that the tactic employed by Minneapolis-based Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), as well as by similar retailers like CVS and Walgreens, "broke shopping in America" by making their stores more difficult to use for everybody.

Retailers argue that the threat of retail theft forces them to put products under lock and key. Target has been complaining for nearly two years that shoplifting and similar crimes — run by organized groups and made easier by online resellers — has been a drag on profits.

CEO Brian Cornell has argued that keeping often-stolen products under guard helps stores stay stocked and claimed that customers are grateful for the practice.

"What we hear from the guests is a big thank you," he said on an earnings call last year.

A quick scan of social media shows that not all shoppers are happy with the practice, though, and BusinessWeek talked with Target store employees who said they're frustrated, as well.

Moreover, some retail analysts told Bloomberg that the data is sketchy on what gets locked up, and how stuff gets stolen: A recent police raid that captured a big haul of stolen retail merchandise was suspected to come from a truck heist, for example, not shoplifting.

The worry for analysts is that the changes could prompt shoppers to abandon stores altogether. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., for example, said earlier this summer it would close a significant number of stores.