Retail chains, store operators and shopping centre managers · Quebec and Ontario
Security, network and audio-video systems for retail stores and shopping centres
A store has a sales floor to watch, a back door to control, a payment network to keep apart and a few hours each night in which anything can be installed. Vega Security equips one store or a whole chain to the same standard.
Every store built by a different installer
A chain grows one lease at a time, and each new location is wired by whoever was available. Ten stores later there are ten camera systems, ten alarm panels and no way for head office to see them all from one place.
We work for the people who run stores rather than for shoppers: operations and loss prevention at head office, the franchise owner with a few locations, the IT team behind the tills, and the manager of a shopping centre who answers for the common areas and the parking.
- Losses nobody can traceThe camera above the till shows the top of a head, the back door is not recorded, and the footage of last Tuesday is already gone.
- A back door propped openDeliveries, waste and staff breaks all pass through one door that sets off no alert when it stays open.
- Tills and guest Wi-Fi on one networkPayment terminals, staff devices, cameras and customers' phones share the same network.
- Work that can only happen after closingThe store cannot close for an installation, and the floor has to be ready when the doors open.
- Terminals that lose their connectionA store in a basement level or deep inside a mall has no mobile signal for the equipment that relies on it.
Systems for the sales floor, the stock room and the mall
A single store can order one of these. A chain can have them specified once and repeated at every location.
- Video surveillanceCameras placed for the tills, the entrances, the aisles, the receiving door and the parking, with recording sized to how long you need to keep footage and one view of every store for head office.
- Video analyticsPeople counted at the entrance by hour and by day, an alert when someone lingers at the receiving door after closing, and a search of a day's footage by what a person was wearing instead of by watching it all.
- Intrusion alarmDoor contacts, motion and glass-break detection for the hours when the store is closed, a code for each key holder, and a connection for a monitoring station.
- Access controlThe back door, the stock room and the cash office opened by card rather than by a key that gets copied, with a record of who opened them and when.
- Electronic locks and door hardwareAn exit device on the back door that sounds when the door is pushed open and reports a door left open, and an electric strike on the cash office door, released from inside.
- Network security (IDS/IPS)A firewall at each store, separate zones for the payment equipment, the staff, the cameras and the guests, and an encrypted link to head office.
- Enterprise Wi-FiCoverage of the sales floor and the stock room for handheld devices, and a guest network with its own rules and sign-in page.
- Structured cabling and LANOutlets at the tills, the screens and the camera positions, and a small cabinet that is tidy, labelled and the same from one store to the next.
- Commercial audio and videoBackground music with separate volume by zone, announcements over the music, and screens whose content is changed from one place.
- Cellular signal boostingMobile coverage for a lower level, a stock room or a unit deep inside a shopping centre, so that payment terminals and phones work.
- VoIP and business telephonyEvery store on one phone system: short dialling between locations, shared hours messages and calls that are not missed at a busy counter.
- Intercom and phone entryA call station at the receiving door, answered from the office or from a phone, so that the door stays closed between deliveries.
- Project managementThe same systems rolled out to several locations by one person who holds the schedule, the store contacts and the list of what remains to be done.
How a store is done between closing and opening
The work is built around trading hours. For a chain, the first store becomes the model for the others.
- A visit during opening hours
We see the store as it runs: where the tills are, how deliveries arrive, where staff go in and out, and what the existing equipment still does.
- One standard, written down
Camera positions by type of area, the door rules, the network zones and the equipment list are set once, then adapted to the plan of each location.
- Night work, floor ready by morning
Cable and devices go in after closing. Ladders, boxes and dust are gone before the first customer, and the old system keeps recording until the new one takes over.
- Store by store, then head office
Each location is tested and handed to its manager, and it appears in the central view as soon as it is done.
What head office and the store manager get
- A camera plan and the recording settings for each store
- User accounts by role: store manager, district manager, loss prevention
- Alarm codes by person and the details of the monitoring connection
- A network diagram that shows what is separated from what
- A short instruction for store staff on finding and exporting footage
Retail sites we work in
- Stand-alone stores and showrooms
- Chains with several locations
- Grocery stores and pharmacies
- Shopping centres, their common areas and their parking
Related industries
Vega Security holds all the licences required for its work.
Questions from retail operations and loss prevention
Can you install without closing the store?
Yes. Most of the work is done after closing, in one or several nights depending on the size of the store. The floor is left clean and the existing system stays in service until the new one is tested.
Can head office see every store from one place?
Yes. The stores are set up on the same platform and viewed from one application, with accounts that limit each person to the stores they are responsible for.
Can you keep some of our existing cameras?
When they are IP cameras in good condition, usually. Older analogue cameras can be migrated in stages. We tell you which positions are worth keeping and which no longer show what you need.
How is the payment equipment kept apart from the guest Wi-Fi?
By segmentation. Each kind of equipment is placed in its own network zone behind the firewall, and the zones can reach only what they need. The design is documented in a diagram you can show to your payment provider or your auditor.
We are opening several stores this year. Can you follow the schedule?
Yes. We plan the locations with your construction or real estate team and take each one from the landlord's handover to opening day. The equipment list and the settings are the same everywhere.
Do you work in shopping centres for the landlord as well?
Yes. For the centre's manager we cover the common areas, the service corridors, the loading docks and the parking: cameras, access control, intercom at the delivery doors and mobile coverage.
Request a quote for your stores
Tell us how many locations are concerned, whether they are open or under construction, and which systems you want to standardise. We reply by e-mail or phone.
For a chain, we usually begin with one store and write the standard from it.
- Hours
- 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- Office
- Montreal, Quebec