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Discover Mid-America — May 2005

Thwarting theft

Nothing hurts the antiques industry more — nor makes a serious dealer madder — than being ripped off by thieves. Dealers who exhibit in multi-dealer shops sometimes complain about the fatalistic attitude exhibited by mall owners when confronted with this problem.

"Not much we can do about it" seems to sum up the prevailing attitude. But many smaller dealers do not carry inventory insurance, and they're not prepared to chalk repetitive losses up to "the cost of doing business." So what's a shop owner or manager to do?

Take precautions with
smaller valuables

"Ripping off an antique store during business hours is nothing more than a glorified form of shoplifting, and most shoplifting is opportunistic. One of the things that amazes me is the number of dealers who expose easily pocketable or especially delicate and breakable valuables in an open, unprotected booth. You may not be able to prevent every theft, but you don't have to hand the thief the merchandise, either. Multi-dealer shop owners should be willing and able to offer a secure space for the occasional small valuable offered by an open-booth seller who doesn't normally deal in these items.

Keep records on theft incidence

For shop owners, there can be no effective theft prevention that doesn't analyze the particular vulnerabilities of a given shop, and that's hard to do if you don't keep records on theft. This doesn't have to be time-consuming. Make yourself a form that you can fill out every time your establishment sustains a theft. Log onto the form such information as:

Type of item stolen
Value of item taken
Dealer name
Type of rental space from which item was taken (e.g., booth or case)
Location of booth or case (e.g., floor/area of building)
Date and time theft detected
Estimated date and time theft occurred
Date police informed
Status of police investigation
Any special circumstances of theft (e.g., employee distracted from open case)

Such incident sheets will tend to highlight patterns of theft, thereby helping you to design procedures to thwart it. For example, if your analysis shows that most thefts in your shop occur in the morning hours between 10 a.m. and noon on Thursdays, you can beef up shop surveillance during the vulnerable period.

Small Japanese dish with raised sides, barbed rim and exquisite hand painting was found sitting in an open booth at an antiques mall ‹ just the sort of thing that could easily be slipped into pocket or purse. The red enamel maker's mark on the base turned out to be that of Kanzan Denshichi, an artist of the Kyoto region during the Meiji period (c. 1869-1912), best known for his work in cloisonné but also working in porcelain. The influence of cloisonné style can be seen in the rim border. (photo by the author from her own collection)

Enlist the help and support of
local law enforcement

Always report thefts to local law enforcement. Make it known that you'll follow up in asking about progress on the case — then do so. Cops are likely to be a busy lot, especially given their involvement in homeland security post-9/11, so the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

If theft is a problem at your shop, chances are it's a problem for other shops in your area. Consider organizing local shop owners for a meeting with police, held at the police station or other mutually convenient location, to discuss the broader problem of antique theft and to solicit police recommendations on dealing with it.

Report to your dealers about what you're doing to follow up with law enforcement concerning specific thefts.

Beyond that, refuse to be a part of the problem. Read "the trades" and try to remember items taken in recent thefts so that you don't become the unwitting recipient of stolen merchandise. Avoid unknown sellers in problem fields: Middle and Far Eastern antiquities and "garden" decor that look as if it came from someone's cemetery plot.

Enlist customer support

Some amazingly large items have been smuggled out of shops inside roomy coats. The sleaze-bags who pull this consider themselves quite clever when they can spirit an impossibly large item out of a shop simply by hiding it under an outrageously large coat.

Still, a system that requires people to divest themselves of purses and coats as the price of admission to a shop is not recommended. A surprising number of folks are offended when asked to park their bags at the desk or in their car — as if you were accusing them, very specifically and pointedly, of trying to rob you.

Moreover, many purchases in antique shops are impulse buys, and the sales advantage is lost if a female customer has to go out of her way to fetch her purse. Besides, unless you're going to allow no bags at all, a ban against "big" bags is practically unenforceable on any consistent basis.

One of the most successful compromises that I've seen for the "bag problem" was at a large multi-dealer shop in southern New Hampshire (sadly, no longer in business). It provided, in the vestibule right beside the checkout desk, a system of small lockers with padlocks and individual keys so that people could lock their purses in these safe "cubbies." As a customer, I always liked this system because it enabled me to retain control of my own valuables while I was in the shop. If I wanted to buy something, I didn't have to go all the way out to my car to get my purse.

Most customers are not thieves, so they lack a personal context for theft prevention measures. An informed public will be more likely to cooperate with these measures. Consider offering visitors to your shop a poster or brochure that talks about the problem of theft in the antiques industry — including the numbers on just how much your particular shop loses to theft each year.

Hire competent employees -
and pay them

The best anti-theft device any shop will ever have is vigilant employees. Staff needs to be competent in assessing and responding appropriately to security risks, conducting discreet surveillance in a manner that deters the opportunistic thief without making the legitimate customer feel the staff is "hovering." That requires a certain level of competence and sophistication, and you just can't get that without paying for it.

Thieves exploit visible and often chronic vulnerabilities, including the indifference of under-appreciated staff. Well-treated employees with high morale are your first line of defense and your bottom line for theft prevention.

Peggy Whiteneck is a writer and collector living in East Randolph, VT. If you would like to suggest a topic she can address in her column, email her at allwrite@sover.net.

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