The Rise of Bulletproof Glass for Retail and Convenience Stores

Retail stores and convenience stores are favored targets of criminals when it comes to armed robbery, burglary, smash-and-grab theft, and rioting and looting.

Additionally, FBI crime statistics from 2020 showed that convenience stores are in the top five locations for violent crimes.

Because of this, many business owners are adopting bulletproof glass for convenience stores and other retail stores as a way to protect employees and merchandise against violence and property crime.

A Word on the Term “Bulletproof Glass”

If you do a quick Google search for “what is bulletproof glass,” you’re going to get a ton of different answers, many of them being misleading ones — but we’ll tell you the truth.

Here it is: there is no such a thing as 100% bulletproof glass, for convenience stores or otherwise.

In the retail security glass industry, “bulletproof” is a term used to market a variety of glazing (glass or glass-like) products that are bullet resistant to various degrees.

What this means is that they can stop a certain number of rounds fired from specific firearms, but any bullet-resistant glazing product can eventually be penetrated, either by enough shot volume or high enough firepower.

There are also many companies that misuse the term “bulletproof” to market glazing products that aren’t bullet-resistant at all (they don’t have any ballistic resistance rating), so it’s important to know how to distinguish the real bullet-resistant glazing from the fake.

Any ballistic-grade material, including glazing and other construction materials, should have a UL 752 ballistic resistance rating, which specifies what types of bullets it can stop from specific types of firearms, and how many of those shots it can stop (at a minimum).

Bullet-Resistant Glass for Convenience Stores and Other Retailers

Convenience stores, including gas station/convenience store combos, mini-marts, and other similar business types are often open 24/7, or at least until very late.

It’s during these late hours that these retail businesses are most at risk of being the target of armed robbery and theft, because of the reduced foot traffic and the cover that darkness provides.

Convenience store businesses also tend to have a lot of cash on hand at night, as many customers make small cash transactions throughout the day.

You’ve probably seen those evening news videos of local convenience store and gas station workers getting held up at gunpoint. 

This type of scenario is all too common and is the reason many business owners are increasingly turning to bulletproof glazing to protect their employees and property.

There are three main ways to implement ballistic-grade glazing in retail applications:

• Transaction windows
• Storefront windows
• Display cases

Bulletproof transaction windows

One of the most common ways to implement bullet-resistant convenience store glazing is to build bulletproof transaction booths around the cash register area.

With the advent of cost-effective bullet-resistant glazing, such as ballistic-grade polycarbonate and glass-clad polycarbonate (GCP), it’s easy to create a secure point of sale where employees are safely protected behind bullet-resistant transaction windows.

These windows can have various types of pass-throughs built in, such as trays or drawers, to facilitate cash transactions without putting employees at risk of harm.

In the event that an armed robber or a violent individual tries to breach these windows, they provide access denial and give employees time to react by taking cover behind the counter or in a back room accessible from behind the counter. 

The employees can then hit a panic button or call 911 and stay relatively safe until the bad guys take off or until the authorities arrive and arrest or neutralize the threat.

Bulletproof storefront windows

Another recommended way to implement bullet-resistant glass for gas stations, convenience stores, and other similar businesses is to reinforce the storefront windows with retrofit ballistic glazing.

Businesses with large glass storefront windows and doors are extremely vulnerable to forced entry, burglary, smash-and-grab theft, and rioting and looting. 

When you retrofit storefront windows with bullet-resistant glazing, it creates an extremely impact-resistant access denial barrier over the existing glass, protecting it from blows (made by heavy hand tools or other objects) and ballistic impacts.

Bulletproof display cases

For specialty retailers, particularly high-end retailers like jewelry stores, bullet-resistant glazing can also be used to make extremely durable display cases for expensive merchandise.

With the increase in high-profile smash-and-grab thefts and cases of rioting and looting we’ve seen in recent years, it’s more important than ever for luxury retailers to secure their merchandise behind ballistic-grade, or at least forced-entry resistant, security glazing.

This allows you to continue displaying products to entice shoppers and make sales, without the need to worry about losing thousands of dollars worth of merchandise to thieves.

Riot Glass® Ballistic Glazing for Convenience Stores and Retail Stores

Riot Glass, LLC offers a full range of forced entry- and bullet-resistant security glazing, including polycarbonate glazing and GCP glazing, that outperforms and outlasts other similar retail and convenience store security glazing products on the market.

Our 100% unique formulations of polycarbonates, acrylics, other plastics, and laminated security glass provide the highest level of protection against a full range of security threats, such as:

• Forced entry
• Smash-and-grab theft
• Burglary
• Vandalism
• Rioting and looting
• Active threats
• Other impacts

Riot Glass® security glazing for convenience stores and other retail applications is fully retrofittable, meaning that it can be fitted into the existing framing systems. It can also be used in new construction or to create secure transaction windows/booths in existing stores.

Because it’s a retrofit solution, Riot Glass® is far more cost-effective than other types of bulletproof glass, which often require a more extensive renovation and installation process.

And, because Riot Glass® glazing is so durable, it has a very long service life. It won’t require replacement for a long time unless significantly damaged by a prolonged, determined forced entry attempt or a ballistic attack.

Riot Glass® is ideal for: 

• Convenience stores
• Gas stations
• 24/7 mini-marts
• Cash transaction windows
• Pawn shops
• Liquor stores
• Cannabis stores
• Luxury retailers
• Jewelry stores
• All other high-security retail applications

Looking for bulletproof retail glass protection? Contact us today for a free consultation!