Bringing in the big guns : Why we are saying no to shoplifting

When I first opened our retail store there were some things I never realised I would have to do (or maybe it was denial). This week the harsh reality of shoplifting in our store has hit us head-on, we have found that we have had some customers that have used light handedness to take things that are not theirs and as a small business owner this hits home so hard. These are things that we have worked hard to be able to buy and offer in our store and to have someone who thinks that they can just make them their own for me is unimaginable. 

I am someone who goes back to Coles when I realise that my carton of coke has not been put through as a heavy item. I know the impact of every lost sale on a business and what it means to the bottom line and at the end of day for small business that means staying open and keeping beautiful staff employed. Sadly these incidents of five finger discounts have led to us having to make some changes in store:

1.   We are now installing CCTV to help prevent and while I hope it is never needed to provide police with the evidence needed of shoplifting
2.   Working with Moranbah Police to help learn how to prevent shoplifting in store and in Moranbah with other small business through the Moranbah Traders Association
3.   Now having to ask customers to check their bags, to all our beautiful customers please don’t think we think this is everyone but more we need to do this to protect our beautiful business
4.  We have had to work through the steps in detail that we will follow if there is any instances of shoplifting in store. In short it is NOT OKAY TO STEAL. 

On the off chance that the person/s who are doing this in our store are reading this - we ask you to please wake up and stop, it is not right and not fair! To all other small business owners please make sure you are reporting to the police any incidents of shoplifting so that they are aware, yesterday when we talked to the Moranbah Police the biggest message I got out of it was people just accept it is part of business and don’t report.

If we don’t report it we can’t stop it. 

So many thanks to Moranbah Police for the way they have helped us work through this.