Retail spaces are amongst the most visited places by Americans. Whether a huge metropolis, a sprawling suburb or a tiny hamlet, there will always be retail spaces where shoppers can congregate to buy, browse, run errands or simply have an outing. Retail can include individual shops, a cluster of shops on a high street or shops and outlets located in a shopping center, which here will mean where shops can only be entered from outside, usually from a walkway next to a parking lot or road – they’re usually referred to as strip malls, of course.
Where there is merchandise and money in tills, there is the potential for theft and robberies. When one considers that the sales value of U.S. brick & mortar retailers in 2015 was in the region of $3.9 trillion, then it is little wonder that retail spaces are such a high security risk, more so than many other types of public spaces. From petty pilfering and shoplifting to violent armed robberies and even storefronts being rammed by vehicles, retail shops can be soft, easy targets. Even a gun shop in Houston was broken into in March 2016 in which a gang of at least 10 thieves made off with 50 weapons in a matter of moments.
Retail spaces and shopping centers do well to consider their security options.
That is where OSP can step in, by offering shop owners and shopping center management teams security solutions that can include:
- a fully integrated security risk assessment for a shop or a shopping center / strip mall
- considerations regarding the size, location and demographics of the shop or shopping center
- this can include the tenant mix for a shopping center / strip mall (which could be a varied mix, thus presenting the center with their own security-related risks)
- an assessment of adjacent and nearby road traffic and foot traffic relevant to a shop or shopping center’s security profile, especially with regard to location and ease of access to major roads or freeways
- shoplifting potential gap analysis
- preparedness for more hostile incident, e.g. heist or invasion, etc.
- security gaps and needs analysis for the building
- parking areas and parking lots within the context of security
- vagrancy issues
- surveillance / CCTV / motion sensor and other allied capabilities and needs, both in-store and external
- if needed, security personnel profiling / hiring / vetting
- internal investigation policies and procedures, especially with regard to petty, non-violent incidents
Any retail shop or establishment with retail shops simply cannot be complacent about security issues.
These security issues can include those both internal to the retail space (i.e. breaches by customers or employees) or those external to the retail space (e.g. breaches from outside, like a shop invasion or heist, etc.).
OSP’s commitment is that we provide our esteemed clients who own or manage shops or shopping centers with security solutions that are customer-oriented and customized to suit the specific retail space, however big or small. The security of a shop or shopping center or like retail space is our objective and what drives the service that we provide. This approach and philosophy is what OSP stands for. It is what we do – and we do so with pride and conviction.