STANLEY CUP RIOT SERIES: How businesses have beefed up security

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – There was widespread looting and hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage — that was the result for one business following the 2011 Stanley Cup Riot in Downtown Vancouver.

More than 300 people broke into the London Drugs on Granville Street that night. “There was approximately $800,000 in damage. The store was completely in shambles and stripped of stock,” says then-company President and CEO Wynne Powell.

The Riot began during regular business hours and once staff realized what was going on they closed early. The staff locked the doors at 8 p.m. and the major damage, according to Powell, was done at 10:30 p.m. But he says that didn’t stop thugs from breaking in so the staff hid in a small office, fearing once the rioters were done, they would come after them.

“Where I was offended was about how our staff was in danger. We had younger women on staff and a number of them had to receive professional counselling and help because they were so traumatized. And I thought how horrible it is for someone who is traumatized by another human being.”

He adds they had a pretty good security plan in place, but the Riot highlighted faults within that system.

“You always learn from these instances and you hope it’ll never happen again, but we reviewed all of our security aspects. We had steel doors that they came through but we beefed up the pinning into the concrete walls and the brick so it took them two hours to get through those barriers but they still made it through. So, we’ve tried to make it in the future and God forbid if it ever happens again they cannot make it through,” adds Powell.

He forgives those involved, but after all this time Powell fights back tears thinking about what transpired over just a few hours of mayhem and despite the damage, feels lucky.

“We were blessed [that] we got all of our customers out before the Riot started affecting the store. Nobody got hurt on our staff. I was so relieved. They were mentally traumatized, and a number of them were for a period of time after. You can rebuild a store, you can create new assets but if someone’s husband, wife, daughter or son was hurt that would not have been a good outcome.”

Powell maintains it was the reaction from the public in the hours and days following the Riot that helped them cope. “You’re proud of Vancouver. You’re proud of your staff. You’re proud of the customers’ reaction. Those are what pop up. The way people came up… they were giving us hugs and it was an interesting moment.”

Following the Riot, London Drugs took some of the thieves to small claims court for a total of $50,000.