Sales of Security Items Jump after Robberies across Japan

Jiji Press

10:30 JST, February 7, 2023

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Sales of security items have been surging following a string of home robberies across Japan including one in which a resident was killed.

Sales of some goods grew more than 20-fold year on year at one hardware store. An official at the store expressed surprise at the sudden popularity of these items, saying, “Previously, we hadn’t even had inquiries about them.”

At the Koto Fukagawa outlet of Kohnan Shoji Co.’s hardware store chain in Tokyo’s Koto Ward, sales of security items roughly quadrupled after a robbery in the city of Komae, Tokyo, on Jan. 19, in which a 90-year-old resident was killed.

Window films and auxiliary locks, both of which make break-ins through windows difficult, are selling well, a store official said. Most of the customers who purchased these items are elderly, the official said.

Security products offered at a dedicated space the store established after the Komae incident sold out in two to three days, the official said.

Hands Inc. saw sales of security items double year on year in January.

Sales grew some 27-fold for window films and about six-fold for sensor alarms, a Hands official said, adding, “Products that require no installation work by technicians and can be attached easily are popular,” the official said.

At Sohgo Security Services Co., better known as ALSOK, meanwhile, the number of inquiries about its home security systems has up three to four times from normal levels.