As break-ins reach epidemic levels, why aren’t retailers doing everything they can to protect themselves?

A trip to the Midlands has left me pondering a troubling question…

I’m feeling particularly chuffed with myself. My Christmas shopping is officially done.

Granted, I only had one present to buy – a jacket for my wife, Mandy. But let’s not downplay the achievement here. It was a single purchase, yes, but a carefully considered one. And in the art of gifting, it’s quality over quantity, right!?!

Now, Mandy didn’t explicitly ask for a new jacket. In fact, she didn’t offer any ideas at all. But as any seasoned spouse will tell you, marriage is a careful game of balancing what’s said and unsaid…

She says, “I don’t need anything,” and I quietly ignore her. Because we all know those words translate to “I’m trusting you to surprise me!”

So with the festive obligations ticked off my list, I’ve shifted focus back to work. That meant a trip to a major Midlands city to assist a retailer. It was my first visit to the area and I wasn’t sure what to expect.

The city greeted me with a peculiar mix of faded charm and undeniable decline. Once clearly a bustling business hub, its streets now tell a very different story. Shops stand shuttered, entire blocks are lined with derelict buildings and the signs of social neglect are uncomfortably obvious.

If I’m honest, the highlight of my visit was the gleaming new bus station. And when that’s the main attraction, you know something’s amiss!

But I wasn’t there for sightseeing. I’d been called in to measure up for new security shutters at a store that had been broken into – again. This was the third attack in just four months.

Whilst I worked, I spoke with a staff member who had only just returned after a three-week leave. She had been on shift during the most recent incident and understandably needed time off to recover from the trauma.

Because this wasn’t your standard after-hours smash-and-grab. No. This happened in broad daylight whilst she was alone in the store.

The attacker had systematically smashed through windows and doors before helping himself to the stock, all with a level of brazen audacity that left me speechless.

Sadly, this kind of daylight crime is no longer the exception – it’s becoming disturbingly common.

As I left the store, I passed other shops bearing the unmistakable scars of similar attacks. Boarded windows, closed doors and businesses haemorrhaging profits and morale. It was a stark reminder of the scale of the problem.

As any retailer will testify, break-ins aren’t just an inconvenience. An attack halts trading, drains already stretched profits and has a huge personal impact on the colleagues who experience it. The effects are devasting.

So in today’s climate, I’m astounded that businesses aren’t doing everything they possibly can to protect themselves. Because whilst not all incidents are preventable, many are.

There are practical, proven solutions on the market that can reduce the risks substantially. I’ve seen it first-hand…

Recent footage has conclusively shown that our shutters and grilles thwart attackers and allow retailers to carry on trading unscathed.

And yet many businesses continue to leave themselves exposed, hoping they’ll somehow beat the odds.

That thought stayed with me as I drove away. Past the boarded windows. Past the empty shops. Past the mounting evidence of a problem that is growing too big to ignore.

Mandy often tells me she doesn’t need new things, and maybe she’s right. But here’s the thing: sometimes you don’t wait for something to wear out or break down.

Sometimes, you need to protect what matters before it breaks.