Archive for the ‘Security’ Category
by David Bodamer May 7th, 2009
Here are some news and notes on retail and retail real estate from around the Web today.
Related Topics: Finance, News, REITs, Retail, Retail Real Estate, Security, Trends |
by David Bodamer January 26th, 2009
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about Japan experimenting with robot security guards at malls. But this new approach seems even more unusual–especially with the robot’s Spider-man like web.
Japanese researchers in Tokyo on Wednesday unveiled a robotic mall cop, a two-foot-high security guard on wheels that can track down bad guys running amok on commercial property and disable them with a ‘Spider-Man’ like web.
Named the T-34, possibly after the legendary Soviet tank of World War II, the little blue guy on wheels weighs about 25 pounds and has a top speed of about 6 mph — not quite as fast as Paul Blart’s Segway.
“We have basically designed the robot for corporate use and we expect private security companies to buy them instead of using human guards, but there will also be those tailored for use in homes,” Tmsuk Co.’s Mariko Ishikawa told London’s Daily Telegraph.
Link.
Related Topics: News, Quirky, Security |
by David Bodamer January 22nd, 2009
The number one movie at the box office last week was Paul Blart: Mall Cop. It’s raked in $40 million and counting so far. There’s another mall security movie slated for release later this year–Observe and Report. And now word has come out of a new sitcom–Walorsky–that will also be centered on a mall security guard.
The New York Times examines this baffling trend.
Though these projects take different approaches to the quiet heroism of retail security, they collectively suggest that there is something irresistible and endlessly versatile about the American mall. “It’s a microcosm, a Disneyland version of what the world’s supposed to be,” said Jody Hill, the writer and director of “Observe and Report.” “You have the latest fashions, electronics and people from every walk of life. It becomes a character itself.”
For Mr. James (who wrote “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” with Nick Bakay), the shopping mall was another setting to play the hapless every-dunce character he refined on the CBS sitcom “King of Queens” (on which he played a driver for a UPS-like delivery service) and film comedies like “Hitch” and “I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry.”
“I don’t think it really dwelled on the psyche of a mall cop so much,” said Jeff Blake, chairman for worldwide marketing and distribution for Sony, the parent of Columbia Pictures. “It allowed Kevin to really be the sympathetic underdog in the story, and that really was the winning formula.”
Related Topics: News, Quirky, Retail Real Estate, Security |
by David Bodamer January 5th, 2009
Rope lines, numbered tickets and walkie-talkies for store employees could help control frenzied bargain-hunters, police said in a report issued after a Wal-Mart worker was killed in a Black Friday stampede.
Nassau County police released recommendations Wednesday, two weeks after meeting with 75 Long Island retailers about how to stage major sales events safely.
Retailers and police had debated who should take the lead on securing discount-hungry crowds after temporary Wal-Mart worker Jdimytai Damour was trampled to death the day after Thanksgiving in Valley Stream.
The report said that while county police would respond if needed, “the responsibility for the security and control of these sales events rests with the store. Store administrators should never market a sales event without having a plan, and the proper resources to manage it.”
Link.
Related Topics: Management & Leasing, News, Retail, Security |
by David Bodamer December 11th, 2008
Retailers luring shoppers with deep discounts should have at least one security guard for every 200 shoppers, erect barricaded corrals 100 feet from entrances and consider other crowd control measures to prevent a repeat of this year’s “Black Friday” tragedy, a top police official said.
Inspector Thomas Krumpter offered the proposals Wednesday at a hearing of the Nassau County Legislature’s public safety committee — the first legislative review since the Nov. 28 trampling death of a Wal-Mart worker.
Jdimytai Damour, a temporary employee, had been on the job for about a week and had no training in security or crowd control, according to a lawyer for his relatives.
Link.
Past links.
Related Topics: Management & Leasing, News, Retail, Security |
by David Bodamer December 5th, 2008
Malls across the country have boosted security in recent months, adding rooftop observation posts, parking lot cameras and more patrols to keep shoppers safe.
A handful of violent incidents occurred at malls this week as shoppers mobbed stores for deals at the start of the holiday shopping season.
“Traditionally, the holiday season does bring more criminal activity to shopping centers,” said Gee Cosper, a former Secret Service agent who is a security consultant to shopping centers.
Cosper says malls have increasingly focused this year on their outdoor spaces, which he calls “the Achilles’ heel of the shopping center.”
Link.
Related Topics: News, Retail Real Estate, Security |
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Lessons from the Latest Mall Shooting
by David Bodamer April 11th, 2011
There has been another mass shooting at a mall–this time in the Netherlands. The attacker killed six and left 15 injured before killing himself.
The rampage was one of those incidents in which it is clear that the shooter meant to wreak havoc from the start. The attacker wore camouflage gear. He shot someone first in the shopping center’s parking lot and then fired a machine gun indiscriminately before running out of ammo. He fired more than 100 rounds. The shooter left a suicide note, but he didn’t get into any motives for the mass shooting.
Mall security has been a subject we at Retail Traffic have written about many times. In fact, I just posted our latest feature last week. It explores how some mall owners run coordinated security drills with first responders in order to be as ready as possible in case something terrible does occur.
Incidents like the one in the Netherlands are ones that no mall–no matter how well prepared–can do much about. Individuals intent on killing large numbers of people are always going to be drawn to malls simply because they are mass gathering places.
But that’s not to say that the industry shouldn’t be prepared. Many of the stories we’ve written have pointed out shortfalls or places where corners have been cut when it comes to security. One of the biggest issues of all is the fact that mall security guards are poorly paid and the position has an extremely high rate of turnover–close to 100 percent annual.
That means that even when training does take place it has to to be constant to make sure the new faces know what to do. What the mall owners and managers in our latest feature are doing is commendable because it leaves them as prepared as possible for the worst case scenarios. Still, there’s always room for improvement.
These incidents cannot be avoided altogether. But we just have to keep doing whatever possible to make sure that when they do take place that mall personnel know what to do. It can make a big difference and save lives.
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