How to Protect Your Retail Store From Smash and Grab

Imagine a group of 10 to 20 armed thieves smashing your windows, counters, and displays, then grabbing the most expensive products they can find while leaving you to deal with the property damage, lost profits, missing inventory, and traumatized employees. Unfortunately, this is happening all over the United States right now.

Smash and Grab Retail Robberies in the News

How Smash-and-Grab Robberies Disproportionately Impact Small Businesses

Ben Dugan, president of the National Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail (CLEAR), told reporters the surge is not accidental.

"It's not a coincidence that these steps are taking place now. [They're] trying to get their hands on as much product as they can, specifically during a supply chain crisis. Organized retail crime runs the gamut across all retailers. Anything with a high resale value is really sought after." Ben Dugan, President, CLEAR

Loretta Worters, vice president of media relations for the Insurance Information Institute, has noted that given the high cost of coverage, it's not uncommon for small businesses to carry inadequate protection against this kind of loss.

Law enforcement across multiple markets has been tracking the same coordinated pattern:

• Groups enter a store with a specific purpose: to steal a large volume of merchandise in a very short window.
• Most of the stolen inventory is believed to be resold in online marketplaces. Best Buy has been lobbying for a federal law that would make it harder to re-sell stolen goods online.
• In one Twin Cities incident, ten to sixteen people walked into the Best Buy in Maplewood, overwhelmed the store's security, took what they wanted, and drove off. Blaine's Best Buy was hit in the same wave, with thousands of dollars in televisions and hoverboards taken.
• Investigators have said the same crew is behind multiple hits, with rotating members between locations.

9 Tips for Preventing a Smash-and-Grab Robbery

Many retail businesses unknowingly make robbery convenient for thieves. Here are nine steps that harden your storefront and make it look like a bad choice to the next crew casing the block.

1. Install security alarms and cameras. Mount cameras at eye level so law enforcement can actually identify a suspect from the footage.
2. Never leave an employee alone. Two sets of eyes and hands beat one in a robbery, and predators pick easy targets.
3. Keep the store well-lit, inside and out. A dark storefront is an invitation. Bright light strips the anonymity that smash-and-grab crews depend on.
4. Keep low cash on-site. Bank frequently. The less cash sitting in the drawer, the less reason to target you.
5. Buy a business safe for cash and high-priced items. A safe protects what a lock on the front door cannot.
6. Place the safe in an inconspicuous location. Bolt it to the concrete floor or a structural wall so a crew with a hand truck cannot walk it out.
7. Install a vault door on your stock room. The stock room is where the resale-value inventory lives. Protect it accordingly.
8. Hire a security guard. A visible uniform at the entrance during peak hours is one of the cheapest deterrents you can buy.
9. Have a robbery scenario plan and drill it. Your employees should know exactly what to do (and what not to do) before a crew ever walks through the door.

Following these nine steps makes your business a hard target and discourages criminals from even attempting it at your location. Most crews are looking for easy money, not a fight.

Business Safes We Recommend

Three picks that map to the advice above: a cash-dispensing smart safe for the counter, a compact B-rate for the office, and a UL RSC burglary and fire safe for the paperwork and cash you cannot afford to lose.

Tidel TACC IIa Cash Dispensing Safe

A smart safe that accepts drop deposits and dispenses register change on an electronic time delay. Enclosed steel cabinet, Medeco key locks, internal floor anchors, and vend storage for up to 88 change tubes. Sold as a robbery deterrent and internal-shrink control for retail.

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AMSEC MS1414E1 B-Rated Burglary Security Safe

A36 solid steel plate construction with a 1/2" steel door and a formed door jamb built to resist sledgehammer attack. Three 1" chromed steel bolts, spring-loaded relocker, and the ESL10 digital lock standard. Four anchor bolt holes to secure it in place.

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AMSEC CSC1913 Burglar & Fire Rated Safe

UL RSC burglary rating with a 2-hour, 350°F fire rating in one compact box. A 4-5/8" door, two 1-1/2" solid steel locking bolts plus two matching deadbolts, ESL10 digital lock standard, and a heat-expandable intumescent door seal. Anchor hole and mounting hardware included.

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