How to Protect Your Shop Front

How important is your business to you? Beyond your family and friends, it’s probably the most important thing in your life, which is why it makes sense to protect it in the best way possible.

If your business runs from a shop front, whether it be an accountancy office, a local deli, or a hairdressing salon, you will know that having a glass frontage can be a risk. And that risk might not be one that you are willing to take.

How is a glass frontage a risk? Well, you will have seen on the news before cars crashing into glass frontages, either by accident, out of control, or sometimes even in ram raids for targeted theft on a business. This is very scary.

There are also incidents of violence when people go around smashing glass frontages – either in random acts of violence or because they believe your business has done them wrong. It may be a disgruntled customer or even a former employee, just going out of their way to make your life miserable with a cricket bat in their hands. Not cool at all, but yet, these things can and sometimes do happen.

The cost of replacing glass frontages is very steep. Even if you only have cracks in your glass then you will generally have to replace the whole panel. These big sheets of glass do not come cheap. And what happens if the glass breaks all the way through? What happens if looters manage to get into your shop?

Do you keep cash on site? A safe? Computer systems, iPads, stock? Even if you don’t keep cash on site, the damage that looters, opportunists, and even just naughty kids can do to a shop in a matter of mere minutes can run into tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of damage. It’s a scary thought.

The other issue with a store front is the security of your door. How secure are the locks on your business? Could the door be pried open just with a crowbar perhaps? If these is something inside your store that thieves would like to have, then a regular door may be no issue to them.

The problem with business theft is that many of the items in your store might be worth the big bucks to people. This makes them a good target for thieves, even if your store is on a busy road. After all, who is going to be coming down the street and noticing at 3.30am in the morning? This sort of hour is prime time for business theft.

There are many things that you can do to keep your business safe. Many businesses install a security camera to keep a watchful eye on their stores. You can easily review footage at any time to see what happens on camera. However, security cameras themselves do not stop theft, just may deter thieves a little, or force them to cover their faces, if they are being smart.

Another measure that can be put in place is a good alarm system, connected to a security firm that sends out an officer to investigate if your alarm goes off. Again, this does not stop theft. You would hope that a thief would be so deterred by the sound of an alarm going off that they would scamper away, but if it’s more of a smash and grab, they’ll just be in and out in minutes anyway, so the officer would simply turn up to see that a theft has already taken place.

Guard dogs? Impractical. Tripwire? That’s for the movies. You could always booby trap your business ala Home Alone for extra laughs when you’re reviewing your video tape footage. Wouldn’t that be something to see?

Commercial shutters and grilles can be a good way to protect your shop frontage when your business is closed. You can pull the entire shutter or grille down over the frontage of your shop. This covers both the door and all the glass as well.

There are many different types of shutters and grilles available. Many are reinforced so that they are almost impossible to break. They lock security to the ground and will protect the entire shop once you lock up at night. This way you can be sure that everything inside remains safe up until the morning.