A Victoria business says it is fed up with crime rates in the area and is taking extra steps to improve security.
The store 2:18 Run, Nike Victoria, located in Fairfield Village Shopping Centre, has installed bulletproof glass in its windows.
Owner Phil Nicolls, who has been in that location for a long time, said his windows have been broken several times over the last three or four years and thousands of dollars in merchandise stolen.
In January, he said someone broke in through the main door and stole some high-end Nike products.
“From there, that was when I started to make the first inquiries on this product called Riot Glass, which is known in the U.S. and in some of the bigger city centres,” Nicolls told Global News.
In September, he said he was broken into again and more product was stolen.
That’s when he decided to install Riot Glass, which is built to withstand ballistics, stopping bullets and preventing entry with shatter resistance.
“This is proactive for me, the Riot Glass and working with them,” Nicolls said.
“And yes, it is very expensive, as we mentioned before, but it does show I’m being proactive to my insurer that maybe you won’t jack my rates and you still will insure me because this is a step that, yeah, they would have to pull the building down basically or the whole building down (to) get in now.”
Jario Yuris, the director for British Columbia and Western Economic Policy at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, told Global News they are not surprised to hear these measures being taken.
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“We’ve seen a sharp increase in the number of small businesses reporting crime across all categories,” he said.
“The most common types of crime that we’ve seen that our members are experiencing are waste and litter, loitering, breaking and entering, vandalism, theft and shoplifting. Actually, B.C. has the second-highest shoplifting rate in the country for thefts under $5,000. So we’re not surprised about the lengths that small businesses are taking to deal with this.”
Yuris said businesses have adjusted operations by going to appointment-only and locking the doors in between services, leaving the lights on at night and even spending upwards of $50,000 on security-related measures.
“Last year when we surveyed our members on (break and enters), we found that 61 per cent of small businesses across the province reported instances of vandalism and breaking and entering,” he said.
“This time around, when we surveyed in 2024 that number jumped to 68 per cent. So almost seven out of 10 small businesses in B.C. have encountered some form of vandalism or breaking and entering over the last year.”
Yuris said it has taken an emotional toll on small business owners as many have sought training on informed trauma care and have trained on administering naloxone in the case of an overdose.
“These are things that they should not be worried about as owners just want to provide the goods and provide the services … that British Columbians rely on,” he said.
Last week, a report from the CFIB found that more than half of small businesses in B.C. say they have been directly impacted by crime over the past year.
The report found the share of small businesses reporting crime directly impacting them has jumped to 57 per cent in 2024.That number is up 10 percentage points from the previous year.
Almost half of small businesses say they have adjusted their way of operating because of crime, while two-thirds report investing in extra security measures such as cameras or window bars.
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