Written By: Brad Campbell | November 20, 2024
From convenience stores open late to specialty retailers dealing in high-value and easily resalable merchandise, criminals love to target different types of stores for different types of crimes, including armed robbery, burglary, smash-and-grab theft, and looting.
In fact, FBI crime statistics from 2020 showed that convenience stores are in the top five locations for violent crimes. Organized retail crime is estimated to have cost U.S. retailers upwards of $70 billion dollars the same year — and the numbers are only rising.
Because of this, business owners are increasingly adopting bulletproof glass for retail and convenience stores as a way to protect employees, customers, and merchandise from acts of violence and property crime.
There is a lot of misinformation out there about what bulletproof glass is and how it can be used to protect businesses against threats. The reality is that there is no such a thing as 100% bulletproof glass, for retail and convenience stores or any other application.
In the retail security glass industry, “bulletproof” is a term used to market a variety of glazing (glass or glass-like) products that are bullet resistant to various degrees.
What “bulletproof” really means is that the material can stop a certain number of rounds fired from specific firearms, but it’s important to understand that any bullet-resistant glazing product can eventually be penetrated, either by a high enough volume of shots or a firearm with extreme firepower.
There are also many companies that misuse the term “bulletproof” to market glazing products that aren’t bullet-resistant at all (i.e., they don’t have any ballistic resistance rating), so it’s important to know how to distinguish the real bullet-resistant glazing from the fake.
Any ballistic-grade material, including glazing and other construction materials, should have a UL 752 ballistic resistance rating, which specifies what types of bullets it can stop from specific types of firearms, and how many of those shots it can stop (at a minimum).
When using bulletproof glass for convenience stores or other high-risk retail applications, ballistic-grade glazing with a UL 752 Level 1 or 2 rating is usually the go-to solution. This glazing is capable of stopping rounds from either a 9mm handgun or a .357 Magnum and can resist extreme forced entry attempts. Glazing with a higher ballistic resistance level is typically reserved for even more high-security applications, such as hardening government buildings.
Convenience stores, including gas station-convenience store combos, mini-marts, and other similar business types, are often open 24/7, or at least until very late. The same goes for certain types of high-risk specialty retailers, like liquor stores, cannabis dispensaries, and pawn shops.
It’s during these late-night hours that these retail businesses are most at risk of being targets for armed robbery and other types of retail theft, because of the reduced foot traffic and the cover that darkness provides. These types of stores also tend to have a lot of cash on hand at night, as many customers make small cash transactions throughout the day and it accumulates by the nighttime.
You’ve probably seen those evening news videos of local convenience store and gas station workers getting held up at gunpoint. Well, this type of scenario is all too common and is the reason why many business owners are increasingly turning to implementing bulletproof glass for retail and convenience stores.
There are three main ways to implement ballistic-grade glazing in convenience stores and other high-risk retail businesses:
One of the most common ways to implement bulletproof glass in retail and convenience stores is to build bullet-resistant transaction booths around the cash register area.
With the advent of cost-effective bullet-resistant glazing, such as ballistic-grade polycarbonate-based glazing and glass-clad polycarbonate (GCP) glazing, it’s easy to create a secure point of sale where employees are safely protected behind bullet-resistant transaction windows.
These windows can have various types of pass-throughs built in, such as trays or drawers, to facilitate cash transactions without putting employees at risk of harm.
In the event that an armed robber or a violent individual tries to breach these windows, they provide access denial and give employees time to react by taking cover behind the counter or in a back room accessible from behind the counter. The employees can then hit a panic button or call 911 and stay relatively safe until the bad guys take off or until the authorities arrive and arrest or neutralize the threat.
Another effective way to implement bullet-resistant glass for gas stations, convenience stores, and other high-risk retail businesses is to reinforce their storefront windows with retrofit ballistic-grade glazing.
Businesses with large glass storefront windows and doors are extremely vulnerable to forced entry, burglary, smash-and-grab theft, and rioting and looting, but using bulletproof glass for retail and convenience stores can significantly increase the security of their storefronts.
When you retrofit storefront windows with bullet-resistant glazing, it creates an extremely impact-resistant access denial barrier over the existing glass, protecting it from all types of blows, including those made by sledgehammers or other heavy hand tools and bullets.
For high-risk specialty retailers, such as jewelry stores, pawn shops, and cannabis dispensaries, bullet-resistant glazing can also be used to make extremely durable display cases for expensive merchandise.
With the increase in high-profile smash-and-grab thefts and cases of widespread rioting and looting we’ve seen in recent years, it’s more important than ever for these types of retailers to secure their merchandise behind ballistic-grade, or at least forced-entry resistant, security glazing.
This allows you to continue displaying products to entice shoppers and make sales, without the need to worry about losing thousands of dollars worth of merchandise to thieves in a matter of seconds.
Riot Glass offers a full range of forced entry-resistant and bullet-resistant security glazing for convenience stores and other high-risk retailers. Its specific formulations of polycarbonates, acrylics, other plastics, and laminated security glass provide the highest level of protection against a full range of security threats and ensure the glazing outperforms and outlasts other similar retail and convenience store security glazing products on the market.
Riot Glass bullet-resistant security glazing for convenience stores and other retail applications is often retrofittable, meaning that it can be fitted into many existing framing systems. It can also be used in new construction or to create secure transaction windows or booths and display cases in existing stores.
Because it’s a retrofit solution, Riot Glass is far more cost-effective than other types of bulletproof glass for retail and convenience stores, which often require a more extensive renovation and installation process.
Plus, because Riot Glass security glazing is so durable, it has a very long service life, meaning it won’t require replacement for a long time unless significantly damaged by an extreme forced entry attempt or ballistic attack.
Looking for bulletproof retail glass protection for your convenience store or other retail business? Contact us today for a free consultation!
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