Moving to block somebody’s path
That I would agree with on being an escalation.
I have seen a lot of times by just there being a few people around giving the we know and we can see you can make someone ditch all the stuff and (some times) cuss out everyone as they leave.
I will admit that I would not advise the technique when it looks like someone is going to be very bold and just walk out with items "clearly" stealing (the cable on it still) and the OP story kinda shows why
Then again anytime I am around a shoplifter doing something like that being very aware of how they are moving or doing is important. Ill do my job but fuck getting hurt for the stuff, nothing in any store is worth it.