Finding Functional Windows

If you are opening a gift shop in a tourist area, then securing your building during the hours when the business is closed is very important. A building that isn't secured opens up your inventory to theft and will cost you a lot of time and money dealing with otherwise avoidable problems.

While you may have given some thought to securing your building, professional locksmiths and security professionals suggest you follow all of these tips:

Tip: Change All of the Existing Locks 

Before you put any fixtures or inventory in your new gift store's space, first, you absolutely must have all of the building's locks changed. Since you have no way to know who might have a key to the locks, changing them all is a requirement. Even if the landlord insists you have the only copies of the keys, past tenants or contractors may still have keys that they simply aren't aware of. For this reason, the best policy is always to change all of the locks.

Tip: Install Solid Wood or Steel Core Doors

Since it is easy for a thief to smash a glass door and make off with your inventory, you should replace any glass entry or exit doors with solid wood or steel core doors. Both of these types of doors are very hard to breach and make excellent deterrents for theft.

Tip: Install Breakage-Resistant Window Glass or Window Film

The easiest way for thieves to steal your gift store's inventory when your business is closed is to simply smash a glass window or pry one open. To proactively prevent this type of theft you should install breakage-resistant window glass on your building. If you cannot replace the glass, then there are window films a professional window contractor can add to the windows to make them unbreakable. In addition, each window should have a working lock to prevent thieves from being able to pry it open from the outside of your building.

Tip: Install Interior and Exterior Security Lights and Cameras

Finally, in this day and age when theft and after hours mayhem are all too common in tourist areas, you must install security lights and security cameras on both the exterior of your gift shop and inside the interior. This will give you the necessary photos of any perpetrators to pass along to law enforcement if it becomes necessary. For the best results, your cameras should be inaccessible to thieves and should be inconspicuous if possible to limit their damage in a break in.  

Contact a company that offers replacement windows for more information and assistance.