Environment
Two opticians, both with interiors designed around the product: back-lit walls of frames, open display tables, warm wood and white surfaces. One is a street-level shop with a glass front; the other is a premium store carrying designer brands. In both, customers are expected to pick frames up, try them on and walk around.
The problem
Eyewear is a classic shrinkage product: small, valuable, displayed openly and easy to slip into a pocket or a bag. Locking frames away kills the shopping experience, and staff cannot watch every customer while fitting lenses. The owners wanted protection that would not look like security and would not scratch or mark the frames.
What we chose
- Acrylic or slim-frame EAS pedestal pairs at the entrance, chosen to match the shopfitting rather than stand out from it.
- Small tags suited to eyewear, attached at the temple so they do not mark the frame and are removed at the till with a detacher.
- Detachers at the counter, where frames are handed over after purchase.
Installation
Pedestals are floor-mounted either side of the door, with the spacing set to the door width and tested with tagged frames. Optician interiors contain a lot of glass and mirrored surfaces, so the system is tuned on site to detect reliably without false alarms from reflections. Installation is done outside opening hours or during a quiet morning.
What the optician gets
- Open displays stay open. Customers keep trying on frames freely.
- An alarm at the door if a tagged frame leaves without going through the till.
- A look that fits the shop. In both stores the pedestals are barely noticed.
The same entrance is the natural place for a WELLPOINT People Counter, which can be mounted directly on the pedestal to measure customer traffic.