‘If your shop is open for trade, it’s open for theft.’
So says David Dalziel, creative director at retail design consultancy Dalziel & Pow, which works with clients ranging from Primark and Millets to John Lewis and Hugo Boss.
But, he adds, there are a number of fairly obvious yet significant ways in which the theft can be confronted in-store, purely by thinking about how your shop is laid out.
The first and probably the simplest of these to execute is to ensure that staff behind a cash desk have a clear and unobstructed view of the front door.
Realistically, he says, that in an average high street store staffing levels can be so low at some points in the day that the cashier is the first and last line of defence. For thieves, the notion that somebody is watching them will, in many cases, be sufficient to deter them from committing a crime.
Entrancing sight:
the Illum department store in Copenhagen, designed by Dalziel and Pow, shows how security barriers can be integrated into an entrance without compromising the design
The same principle applies when deciding where to locate CCTV cameras. Dalziel comments: ‘Visible deterrents for shoplifters are 100 per cent more effective than the invisible. Discrete concealed sensors at an exit don’t work as well as upright barriers.’ He adds: ‘And they don’t need to be unsightly as today they are more streamlined than ever.’
In big stores the sight of security camera domes, prominently located across the ceiling of large selling floors has been a given for many years. Traditionally these have had smoked glass and a couple of flashing red lights to give a hint that there is a camera inside and it is working.
It is equally well-known that in many cases these are ‘dummy’ domes containing little more than a wire connecting the external lights to the mains. Nonetheless, they continue to act as a deterrent.
For small shops, it remains a moot point whether concealing CCTV cameras will help to prevent theft in the same manner as a visible deterrent. Clear sight lines and vigilant staff would still seem to be essential ingredients in the fight against crime.