Break-ins add stress to struggling businesses
With stores shutting due to pandemic, threat of theft is weighing on some owners
When the phone rang at 3:30 a.m. in late March, Alyssa Dahl’s heart sank.
At the other end of the line was an alarm company, telling her there’d been a break-in at Little Peeps, the eastend children’s clothing store she’s run for the past 10 years. She had closed her shop a few days before the province shut down non-essential businesses because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
When she got to the store a short while later, she couldn’t quite believe her eyes. “I didn’t know glass could shatter that much,” Dahl said. A burglar had smashed the store’s front glass door and ransacked the place, taking clothes, a few books and some jewelry. All told, she figures it was $5,000 or $6,000 worth of damage and theft.
“I was sweeping and crying. I just couldn’t believe it,” Dahl said. “I’ve been calling all my friends who’ve got
businesses and telling them, ‘Just pack everything up. Make your place look less desirable.’ ”
Her friend Kim Alke, who runs Spruce Home Decor in Cabbagetown, took a more artistic approach.
“(She) boarded her place up but then got this beautiful mural on it saying: ‘Love you, miss you,’ ” Dahl said.
Dahl’s shop is just one of thousands of businesses in the city closed during the COVID-19 pandemic after being declared non-essential. While Toronto Police say major crime — including break and enters — has been dropping over the past month, many small business owners are feeling vulnerable and frustrated. The possibility of a break-in is extra stress at a time when they’re already worried about making ends meet.
For restaurateur Zach Slootsky, the call came Monday morning. He learned from his alarm company that his Dundas Street West restaurant The Federal had been broken into overnight. There was some damage, but the biggest loss was in a personal bag that was taken.
“It was mostly the stuff in my bag. A laptop and some cash. I’d dropped it off there, then went home to play with my son. I thought, ‘I should go back and get my bag,’ but I kept playing with my son,” said Slootsky, who’d left the bag there after doing deliveries for his two Gold Standard takeout restaurants. He knows the cash is gone for good.
“(The insurance company) told me that laptops aren’t usually covered and if they are, the deductibles mean it’s not usually worth claiming,” Slootsky said. “The reality is, if you run a business, you’re probably going to get broken into at some point,” he said philosophically. “We don’t have the same presence we do normally. There’d usually be someone there until1 a.m., and then someone else is back in at 6,” Slootsky said.
While he’s planning to be more careful about where he leaves valuables, Slootsky said he’s not about to turn his restaurant into a fortress.
“I know some places are putting up plywood and blocking their windows, but that just feels apocalyptic,” Slootsky said.
The head of the country’s biggest retail trade association says her members are worried and tired. The threat of break-ins is a headache they simply don’t need at an already-stressful time, Diane Brisbois says.
“People are worried about how they’re going to pay rent and how they’re going to pay for the inventory they’ve ordered. And now, they have to worry about, ‘Is my business going to be safe?’ People have about an ounce of energy left and now someone’s sucking it away,” said Brisbois, president of the Retail Council of Canada.
Brisebois is holding a conference call Wednesday with retailers from across the country and law enforcement representatives to look at ways to keep shuttered stores — and even ones which are still open — safe.
“Everyone needs to find out what best practices are, especially if this goes for a lot longer,” Brisebois said, adding that smaller retailers are particularly at risk of break-ins and of struggling to deal with their insurance companies.
“The bigger retailers are often in malls, which still have security guards, or they have their own security. The bigger ones can usually get their calls returned more quickly by insurers, too,” Brisebois said.
Reading the fine print in insurance contracts is often tougher for small businesses, too, says Brisebois, as they likely don’t have a legal department.
Insurance Bureau of Canada spokesperson Steve Kee says insurance companies are trying to help.
“The current State of Emergency and the resulting business closures are a very recent and challenging situation. Our industry is focused on figuring out how best to navigate this unprecedented situation while focusing on balancing our objective to support claimants with our collective goal to protect Ontarians’ health and safety,” Kee said. He added that the IBC doesn’t have data on the number of break-ins or claims resulting from them. Toronto Police Service spokesperson Meaghan Gray said major crimes — including property crimes including break and enters — have been dropping over the past month. But police are still keeping an eye out for businesses vulnerable to break-ins.
“Regardless of the numbers, we have heard concerns from some business owners that these closed businesses are potentially at an increased risk of break-and-enters, vandalism or robberies and theft given reduced foot traffic and customer flow. As a result, each division across the city has been tasked with monitoring these locations,” Gray said.
Telus, which last year bought the Canadian operations of U.S.-based alarm giant ADT, says it hasn’t noticed an uptick in alarms or calls, but is offering free installation, $1,000 in free equipment and three months worth of monitoring to companies who sign up for a new three-year contract.
“The last thing small business owners should be worrying about right now is whether or not their business or inventory is safe,” Telus spokesperson Liz Sauvé said.