StateWays is the only magazine exclusively covering the control state system within the beverage alcohol industry, with annual updates from liquor control commissions and alcohol control boards and yearly fiscal reporting from control jurisdictions
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SECURITY Update Electronic article surveillance (EAS) system tags, from Checkpoint Systems, which work in tandem with the company's EAS system located at the store's exit. by the retail price of the products stolen, decreased from over $51,000 in 2010 to $36,440 in 2011, when all the new cameras were up and working. When there has been an incident, the Virginia ABC finds that the new cameras cut down on the labor of handling the event. "Whenever we had a break-in or a smash- and-grab in the past, we did an inventory of the entire store," said Smith. "With the new cam- eras, we can see everything, including exactly where the per- son went, so we just have to inventory those areas." The systems from 3xLogic, currently being used in state stores two states, Idaho and North Carolina, can be upgrad- ed to do "video analytics." One aspect of video analytics is when a store's system auto- matically sends an alert, a text message or an email, with a picture, to a manager's mobile device, when it senses that an event has occurred. The second aspect of video analytics is reporting. The systems can be used to provide detailed reporting on things such as the wait times at the check-out and even which ways customers go when they travel through the store. Though these capabilities are expensive, 3xLogic's Davis reported that retailers with as few as five to 10 locations are using them. Most every store, large and small, including state liquor stores, has sensors on its windows that sound an alarm when the window is smashed. The problem is: the alarms don't sound until the window, which can cost thousands of dollars to replace, has been smashed. Greg 14 Wilson, a private retailer in Georgia, has dis- covered a solution. At his store, Smoke Rise Bottle Shoppe in Stone Mountain, GA, he has installed infrared sensors around his store, about three feet out from the walls. They are set chest-high so they aren't triggered by animals. Wilson turns them on at night. "If someone crosses those sensors' beams, alarms and lights go off – and they run off before they break the window," said Wilson, who can watch exactly what happened because it's recorded by his camera system. "It goes off about one to three times a year. I'm sure my neighbors love it, but it's been a great deterrent." It cost Wilson about $2,000 to put the sensors around his entire 13,000-square-foot building. "It also stops them from trying the doors or from climbing to the roof to break in from there," he added. Bottle Locks Various brands with security caps from Loss Prevention Systems. Another security development of interest to liquor retailers is the bottle lock. These are most often used with an electronic article surveillance (EAS) system, such as from Checkpoint. These are the systems that sound an alarm if a customer exits the store with an item whose electronic tag (or bottle lock) has not been deacti- vated at the check-out. Instead of using a plain EAS tag, liquor retailers can now use a bottle lock, either one that fits over the neck of the bottle, or a "bottle cap." The bottle-cap style bottle locks not only set off the EAS system, but will also deny the shoplifter the ability to open the bottle without breaking it. "We've had clients who have had shoplifters open bottles in the store and pour them out into another container," said Bregar, whose Loss Prevention Systems sells both Checkpoint Systems and the EASy Bottle, a cap-style bottle lock, from Alpha Systems. "These bottle locks have been around for about six to eight years, but have really begun to pick up steam in the last couple," he added. A Checkpoint system costs around $1,400 to $2,300 per door, plus the cost of the special tags or bottle locks. Security concerns are always going to exist, perhaps especially for stores that sell liquor. "We have a product people want and money," said Smoke Rise's Wilson. "That brings the bad guys out." But Wilson has not had a major loss or break-in or robbery in four years. "You've got to have security. You've got to stay on top of it," he said. SW StateWays s www.stateways.com s May/June 2012