Victoria company installs bulletproof glass to combat burglaries – B.C

A Victoria business says it is fed up with the area’s crime rate and is taking extra steps to improve safety.

The 2:18 Run store, Nike Victoria, located in the Fairfield Village Shopping Center, has installed bulletproof glass in the windows.

Owner Phil Nicolls, a longtime resident of that location, said his windows have been broken several times over the past three or four years and thousands of dollars worth of merchandise has been stolen.

In January, he said someone broke in through the main entrance and stole some luxury Nike products.

“From that moment on, I started asking the first questions about this product called Riot Glass, which is well known in the US and in some of the larger city centers,” Nicolls told Global News.

In September, he said his home was broken into again and more products were stolen.

That’s when he decided to install Riot Glass, which is built to withstand ballistics, stop bullets and prevent entry with shatter resistance.

“This is proactive for me, the Riot Glass and working with them,” Nicolls said.

“And yes, it is very expensive, as we mentioned before, but it does show that I am being proactive with my insurer, that you might not raise my rates and that you still insure me because this is a step that, yes , they would actually have to tear down the building or tear down the entire building to get in now.”

Jario Yuris, director of British Columbia and Western Economic Policy at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, told Global News they are not surprised these measures are being taken.

“We have seen a sharp increase in the number of small businesses reporting crime across all categories,” he said.

“The most common types of crime our members experience are waste and litter, loitering, burglary, vandalism, theft and shoplifting. BC actually has the second highest shoplifting rate in the country for thefts under $5,000. So we are not surprised at the efforts small businesses are making to deal with this.”

Yuris said businesses have adjusted their operations by going by appointment only and locking doors between shifts, leaving lights on at night and even spending more than $50,000 on security-related measures.

“Last year, when we surveyed our members about burglary, we found that 61 percent of small businesses in the province reported incidents of vandalism and burglary,” he said.

“This time, when we did research in 2024, that number rose to 68 percent. So almost seven out of 10 small businesses in BC have experienced some form of vandalism or burglary in the past year.”

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Yuris said it has taken an emotional toll on small business owners, as many have sought training in informed trauma care and trained in how to administer naloxone in the event of an overdose.

“These are things they don’t have to worry about as owners just want to deliver the goods and provide the services … that British Columbians rely on,” he said.

Last week, a report from the CFIB shows that more than half of small businesses in B.C. say they have been directly affected by crime over the past year.

The report shows that the proportion of small businesses reporting crime that directly affects them will increase to 57 percent by 2024.

That number is 10 percentage points higher than last year.

Nearly half of small businesses say they have changed their way of working because of crime, while two-thirds say they are investing in additional security measures such as cameras or window bars.

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