A shoe store owner in Fresno, California, has learned the hard way to implement some creative solutions to lessen the impact of smash-and-grab robberies on his business.
Roman Gonzales, who owns the store DripOnDrip, experienced a break-in shortly before the new year. After a car smashed through the window of the business, several people piled out of a car to empty the store, according to WXIN.
But they left 30 seconds later — looking visibly frustrated on the store’s security footage — because there were almost no items inside to steal.
“If they would have looked through the window, they would have saved themselves some time and energy from even trying to break in,” Gonzales told the outlet.
“They would have noticed that there is nothing here on the floor for them to take.”
That is because Gonzales now removes almost all visible merchandise every single night and leaves the cash register drawer open without any cash.
He started making that move after another smash-and-grab robbery at his old location last year, which resulted in the disappearance of most items he had for sale.
One of the only types of items visible in the store on any given night are the right-foot shoes on the walls.
“There’s no value once you take this shoe. I mean, you can’t just buy a left-foot shoe online either. So you’re not going to be able to use that item or even resell it. It’s just pointless,” Gonzales remarked.
The only goods the most recent set of criminals were able to snag were, unfortunately, some pairs of shoes he was intending to donate to some local at-risk teenagers, plus some right-foot shoes and backpacks.
He was also forced to board up the front windows, which were shattered by the thieves not yet privy to his smash-and-grab prevention measures.
DripOnDrip is far from the first California business to take extreme measures while dealing with rampant stealing, a reality that was enabled by a decade of decriminalized petty theft.
Fredericksen’s Hardware and Paint in San Francisco, California, instituted a policy last year through which employees escort customers through the store one-on-one during certain designated hours, according to KRON-TV.
“We just want to make it uncomfortable for the thieves, so they go somewhere else,” Sam Black, the store manager, told the outlet.
Other employees are stationed near the front tables to make sure that thieves cannot roam the store.
“It’s pretty bad,” Black added.
“I mean, the dollar amounts are pretty significant, and with the tools and now we’re getting snatch-and-grabs when they take whole displays, so it’s getting kind of dangerous for the employees and the customers,” he observed.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
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