Jim wasn't hunkered down or panicking anywhere. In fact, he strolled out of the Sharper Image just then, briefly preceded by the remote-control helicopter. Sharper Image employees followed him, along with a lot of yelling, bewildered people, but they all seemed afraid to approach him, and a lot of the people were screaming about ghosts.

Jim had just wanted to see if anyone would stop him if he actually took the merchandise from the store. Since this was the most blatantly he'd ever shoplifted (actually the first time he HAD shoplifted - his mom had drilled respect for the struggling shopkeep making ends meet into his head far too well for him to rebel against that particular law), he was pretty amused by the lack of direct conflict he was getting from the holographic people.