About Our Clients

Market Basket is a multistate grocery store franchise with 80 stores running within three states spread across the New England Coastline from Cape Cod to Southern Maine, even far west just shy of the Vermont and Rhode Island State lines. It currently has 49 locations in its home state of Massachusetts, 30 stores in New Hampshire and a single store in Maine.

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Home Depot is the largest home improvement retailer in the United States today. It operates many big-box format stores across the United States and its territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands; all 10 provinces of Canada; and the 31 states and the Federal District of Mexico.

 

The Challenge

Due to the current COVID-19 Pandemic, there has been an unprecedented increase in the number of social unrest and disorderliness especially in local stores and grocery shops with many people “panic shopping for the bare necessities.”  

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Amidst the crisis, Market Basket has laid down a policy that allows not more than 170 people at a time to shop in the store. Home Depot on the other hand, isn't allowing more than 100 customers inside the store at a time. So, basically once a customer is leaving the store another customer enters to maintain the balance on the absolute number decided upon.

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Despite this, the employees and staff associates working in the store are being harassed and insulted occasionally by disgruntled customers. The main problem was that people were using this pandemic as an excuse to exhibit bad behaviors and cause menace within the store with little regard to the regulations set in place by the government to prevent the spread of the virus.

 

So, Market Basket and Home Depot reached out to American Alliance Security Agency to help control the crowd, maintain peace, and uphold the 6 feet apart regulation suggested by the government for social distancing on queues. 

 

Solution

It became apparent from the outset what we needed to do to maintain the peace, control the crowd and create orderliness in our client’s store while ensuring people stick to the rules and regulations. 

 

So, we decided to provide dedicated armed security guards on the premises of Market Basket and Home Depot stores with direct objectives:

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• To control the lines and maintain orderliness among shoppers.

• To ensure the store policies and regulations were being followed without any dispute.

• To ensure all customers are well behaved on the shopping premises to avoid mass panic and violence.

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The process:

• Our on-site guard would make patrol rounds inside the store every 30 minutes and ensure his presence is felt by shoppers without agitating them.

• The guard would also occasionally take position at the main entrance points which gives him extended coverage and view of the store.

• With a relaxing, yet alert composure, he would then proceed to the front entrance of the store to monitor the crowd and maintain an atmosphere of serenity.

The Result

Since the day our security guards commenced duty, Market Basket has noticed how easily people comport themselves and comply with its shopping policies -- providing a safe and friendly environment where people can come to buy essential goods during the pandemic without any hostile encounter.

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Home Depot's corporate management thanked us and our officers, elaborating on the positive feedback they've received from employees and managers at the store locations where our guards were present.

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The authoritative symbol which our guard represented coupled with the implementation of our subtle security procedures ensured peace and a welcoming atmosphere for customers within and outside the store.

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“Our associates and staff are no longer harassed or caught up in stressful situations while store operations and transactions are as smooth as ever,” says Market Basket Store Manager, Stacie Nelson.

 

"Personally, I feel at ease and I am glad that your guards are here due to what I have seen first-hand. People generally don't seem to listen to our staff members, but they do obey the commands of the guard." - Home Depot Store Manager, Chris Gagne.

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The teams at Market Basket and Home Depot were very happy and satisfied with the outcome after engaging our professional security guard services. It was a huge success.