New security measures put in place at Mac’s Convenience Stores in Thunder Bay seem to be having the desired effect, says the company’s vice president of operations for central Canada.
Despite another robbery early Wednesday morning at a Mac’s outlet on North Cumberland, Tom Moher on Thursday, following another meeting with Thunder Bay Police Service, said the company has put several measures in place to combat a rash of robberies in recent months.
“We’ve increased our surveillance. We actually have security guards in place and we’ve reduced hours in some stores,” Moher said.
“We’ve added additional lighting to our stores, added additional fencing and added additional security measures and gone through retraining with our staff. It’s very, very important for them and their safety to see them respond well in these situations.”
Combined with increased efforts on behalf of the police department, employees have reason to feel safer all over again, he said.
“We have ongoing discussions with local police forces, such as Thunder Bay, to make sure we’re on the same page in terms of making sure we’re working together. It was a great meeting and certainly we were very, very happy with the job Thunder Bay Police have done here, and continue to do for us, in terms of apprehending suspects in situations and making arrests,” Moher said.
“We are very encouraged and very happy about that.”
It’s been a troubling autumn for the Canadian corporation locally.
In September two local stores were robbed at knifepoint in the same evening. In October a Mac’s clerk was punched during a robbery, while in November police became involved in what appeared to be an armed standoff following yet another brazen attack.
Those are just some of the nearly 30 robberies the company’s 19 Thunder Bay outlets have faced this year.
Moher said Mac’s isn’t alone as a target, even though in Thunder Bay the chain is averaging more than two robberies a month in 2011.
“Any retailer faces these situations. Certainly there has been an increased frequency. We do see that from time to time in various communities, be it due to certain individuals or circumstances. But again it’s now at much more reasonable levels that we would typically see in the rest of the province.”
Thunder Bay Police were not immediately available for comment on Thursday.
