As soon as Halloween is past most Toronto businesses get into full swing for their Christmas decorating. It is important for retailers especially to start to entice their patrons to think about Christmas shopping. Along with the decorating of the store comes the extra burden of increasing the security measures.

Unfortunately unscrupulous individuals use this festive season to put their unwanted talents to good use. They realize that shops are busy tending to increased clientele, and cannot be as watchful as to what is taking place in the store. Would be thieves will seize the opportunity for shoplifting.

One of the common mistakes that many stores make is to focus so much on their attractive displays and promotional setups they forget about the added security measures. For example, ideally the interior of the shop should be kept lit at night and store front windows should allow for a good view of the interior of the shop. This is a safety guard of keeping thieves out as they don’t want to commit their thievery in full view. During the holiday season however most often the interior of the stores get blocked from full view because of the window dressing. It is worth taking the time when decorating these areas to keep this security measure in mind.

The same applies to the interior decorating. The displays still should be set up in such a way that they don’t detract from the view of the video cameras or the staff. Small expensive items should be kept under lock and key in appropriate display units.

A lot of stores like to run midnight madness sales. This means keeping the store open late in the evening. Having extra staff on just to monitor the store could help to keep thieves at bay.

Something else to keep in mind is not to allow large amounts of cash accumulate in the registers. Hopefully your business has a good safe on the premises. You should set a small limit for the cash on the floor and constantly remove the excess to the safe. It is also not a wise idea to be transferring large amounts of cash at one time to the bank. If you are having a good sales day then considering making two or three trips to the bank for deposit.

Before you do your store decorating for the Holiday season do a review of your security measures with your staff and determine if there are any weak areas, or whether you need to update your security system to give you even better protection all year round.