Strand Jewellers are a jewellery store based in Cheltenham. They came to Warrior Doors as they were concerned that their existing timber doors weren’t strong enough to defend themselves and their stock from a potential attack.
Cheltenham Jewellery stores are no stranger to attacks. In November of 2018 a store was robbed of thousands of pounds worth of jewellery in an armed attack, In April of this year, another store had an attempted attack that was thwarted by the store’s alarm system and most recently on the 1st of this month another store faced an attempted attack where stones and a hammer were used to smash through the display window. All jewellers are aware of the possibility of attack but that threat becomes more real when it is happening on your doorstep.
Strand Jewellers had 2 timber entry doors into the store that contained glass that wasn’t secure. They knew that in the event of an attack their physical security wouldn’t protect themselves or their livelihoods and that this needed to change.
Their external timber door led into a lobby area with a display window. This is fantastic for maximising display space however the glass in the window was not secure. This meant that in the event of attack criminals would only need to get through one timber door and smash the glass to grab the display pieces.
Strand wanted to secure their store quickly while keeping costs to a minimum. This meant that we needed to get creative with ensuring that the store was safe from attack. We left the existing external timber door, this meant that the store was not undergoing huge appearance changes but also left the lobby areas display at risk. We then installed a high security screen with secure glazing to replace the lobby display to ensure that if someone did break in through the external door, they wouldn’t be able to smash and grab those display pieces.
Finally, we replaced the inner timber door with a high security fully glazed solution that is unlocked via a button behind the counter. We re-used their existing doorbell so that a customer can enter through the wooden door into the lobby area, look at the display and then ring the bell if they wish to enter the store. Staff from behind the counter can then see through the fully glazed door and permit them entry if they believe they will not be a threat or deny them entry if they seem suspicious. This helps to protect them from daytime attacks while the store is open but the strength of the door and screen means that if an intruder broke through the timber door while the store is closed they would only gain access to the small lobby area and not be able to get through into the store or the display to take any stock.
Do you know how you would react to an armed robbery at your business? Would you know what to do next? Most business owners probably ask themselves these questions in passing, but in reality don’t know the answers. With over 30 years in the Metropolitan Police Service, Warrior Doors’ Simon Cham is the ideal person to provide them. Visit our Webinars Page to sign up to our free webinar The Three Stages of a Robbery.
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