WINNIPEG -- A Manitoba Liquor Mart located in Winnipeg’s West End is the latest location to get a controlled entrance to combat increased theft rates and robberies.
The entrance at the Portage Ave. and Burnell St. Liquor Mart was in operation on Christmas Eve. Customers who walked in the building’s outside door were met in the entrance by a uniformed police officer and two uniformed security guards — one in the entrance and a second guard stationed at a computer in the store itself behind a pane of glass.
Each customer is now required to present valid photo identification by sliding it through a slot in the glass to the guard at the computer. The guard checks each customer’s identification before the inside doors are opened to let the customer inside the store.
The design is slightly different than the first controlled entrance which went into operation last month at the Tyndall Market Liquor Mart. The entrance in that store has a security booth for guards to sit in while they check and scan IDs.
Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries wouldn’t comment when asked whether the new controlled entrance at its Tyndall Market location has helped curb thefts.
All Liquor Marts in Winnipeg are going to be getting a secure entrance.
A Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries spokesperson said it won’t be releasing any details of the new entrance at the Portage and Burnell location or any other locations as the new entrances are installed.
Liquor and Lotteries said while the overall design and layout of the controlled entrances may vary from store to store, the requirements for customers will remain the same: you must show valid photo identification to enter and no one under the age of 18 is allowed inside.
On Christmas Eve, a second police officer was also stationed inside the store.
Police officers not on shift are hired by retailers as part of a special duty program through the Winnipeg Police Service. It’s not known what role they’ll play in stores moving forward. Police Chief Danny Smyth has previously said retailers must find other solutions to combat retail thefts and pointed to Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries as an example.
From Apr.1, 2019 to Sep.30, the shrink rate — which is the loss of inventory through theft, damage to products or administrative errors — at Liquor Marts was 0.70 per cent which the Crown corporation said is significantly higher than in previous years. According to information on the Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries website from the Retail Council of Canada, some national retailers in downtown Winnipeg have experienced shrink rates as high as four to five per cent. The Canadian national retail average is approximately 1.44 per cent.
