Hardware Store In San Francisco Takes Drastic ‘One Shopper, One Employee’ Security Method

This week, Fredericksen Hardware & Paint, a longtime hardware store in the Cow Hollow District of San Francisco, began implementing yet another new security measure in the city: Having employees personally escort shoppers around the store to prevent losses.

For years, San Francisco stores have done everything they could to prevent losses as both crime and homelessness continued to grow in the city. Some were obvious, like better security cameras and shutters, as well as hiring more security guards and locking the most expensive and most stealable products behind transparent doors to deter thefts during the day. Others were more drastic, such as designing the entire store to deter shoplifters and having security guards directly at the doors waiting to grab anyone setting off alarms or whom loss prevention flagged. Despite this, many stores still have closed in the past several years in the city.

Wanting to avoid that fate and stop thefts from occurring, Fredericksen Hardware & Paint owners decided to take the drastic step and create an escorted shopping experience. During certain hours, the store will completely block off the doors in the front, and only allow customers in one at a time whenever there is an employee available to help them. Shoppers during those times won’t be allowed to roam the store alone.

In an interview with the local Fox 2 station, store manager Sam Black said that several recent “snatch and grabs” were the final straw for them, and that they went into the personal shopping method to keep employees and customers safe, as well as deter thefts.

“We really weren’t given a choice. I mean, we have to keep our employees safe and our customers safe. When they’re coming in to do snatch and grabs, that was the final, final straw,” said Black. “It’s a shock. This has been happening maybe all over the city and other parts of the country. Now, it’s finally reaching Cow Hollow.”

“It’s pretty bad. 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. We just want to make it uncomfortable for the thieves so they go somewhere else. Yeah, people aren’t happy. The regulars can’t believe it like we can’t believe it, but they’ve been really understanding.”

Drastic measures for thefts in SF

In recent days, the new shopping method has gotten so much attention that even city lawmakers have commented on it.

“This situation is tragic and embarrassing for our city, and it’s all the more reason to get serious about solving our police staffing crisis,” said Supervisor Catherine Stefani. “We need more police on our streets, and we need them now. That’s why I’ll hold a series of hearings in March to push our city agencies to fill the hundreds of vacancies at the Police Department as soon as possible–to stop the bleeding, reverse the damage, and finally protect our residents and small businesses.”

While the store hoped that the drastic measure would also get the attention and help dissuade criminals from shoplifting, security experts in the Bay Area told the Globe on Friday that while the method may not be economical in the wrong run, it is effective.

“One employee per customer is an expensive  way to deter crime for a store,” said Frank Ma, a former law enforcement official who now works as a security advisor for businesses in San Francisco and cities in the Peninsula. “Many places cannot afford to do that very long, or if they can, it means other areas are suffering because of employees being  sent from other jobs like stocking or being at the register.”

“For older stores like Frederickson’s, usually the best method is a security guard at the door. But after Banko Brown, many are thinking twice now on that. For Frederickson’s, and other stores, what might work best is manually operated doors where one is buzzed in and out. That way, someone steals or an employee thinks they stole, then they can’t leave unless a security guard or police officer is waiting for them.”

“But I also get why Frederickson’s is doing this. Stores everywhere are fed up with thefts. It’s the number one thing we hear, and some of my people who go out for estimates have said that owners have talked to them for hours going over all these different ways people stole and how there were no consequences for them. If you want to stop seeing stories like this, then the solution is simple: Have laws return to help police do their job and actually put people who steal behind bars. Let the police and security guards be allowed to exercise their power to stop shoplifters. It’s common sense, yet the city isn’t doing it.”

As of Friday, Frederickson’s is continuing the one shopper, one employee policy, although they don’t know how much longer it will continue.