Entrepreneur Kees Elzinga has equipped his refurbished Albert Heijn supermarket in Meppel with high resolution MOBOTIX cameras. The objective is to prevent incidents in the shop and the immediate surroundings and to keep a discreet eye on the safety of all visitors and staff.

Key Data 

Sector       Retail

Customer       AH ELZINGA, Netherlands 

Partners       Systra ICT

Products      2x c25 Camera         17x p25 Camera 

Refurbishment And Expansion Of Supermarket

AH Elzinga in the Oosterboer district of Meppel was opened in 2017 after undergoing a combination of refurbishment and expansion. Part of this involved the conversion of the shop from a C1000 branch to a modern Albert Heijn supermarket. “As a retail entrepreneur nowadays you share responsibility, as in other public buildings, for the safety of all visitors and your own staff”, says Elzinga. “This is why, as part of our refurbishment, I had our local partner, Systra ICT, install a considerable number of additional cameras. In my experience, camera surveillance is an effective security tool to prevent and solve undesirable incidents.” Elzinga has used MOBOTIX high resolution digital cameras since 2012 to monitor the shop and its immediate surroundings.

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Quality Is the Deciding Factor

“We have installed an additional 17 cameras in and around the refurbished AH Elzinga supermarket, bringing the total to around 30”, explains Evert Jan Kin, security specialist at Systra ICT.“ For the greater part these are unobtrusive c25 cameras and a few additional p25s. All cameras are managed on a standard computer using MOBOTIX video management software.” “When we first opted for MOBOTIX in 2012, the video quality and specialist support by a local partner were the deciding factors,” Elzinga continues. “Additionally, the fact that they were manufactured in Germany and not in Asia fitted with my sense of quality. Over the last few years, we were able to see for ourselves that they work reliably and are virtually maintenance-free. Lastly, they are known as the cameras that offer the best protection against hackers, which is an additional benefit for retail applications.” 

Retail Applications

The most important applications of cameras in retail are surveillance of checkouts, aisles and the immediate surroundings, such as entrances and parking lots. “As they enter the supermarket, our customers are made aware of our surveillance through the public view monitor”, says Elzinga. “Of course no privacy-sensitive recordings are stored. Only if there is an incident or if anything is unclear in relation to a payment, for example, is the relevant footage viewed. Thanks to the high resolution MOBOTIX lenses our images are razor-sharp, which means the police is happy too. We also use the cameras to monitor if additional checkouts need to be opened depending on how busy it is and for surveillance of costly packaging materials. Like the older models, which have already been in use for six years, these new indoor models work very well for us, while being far less conspicuous than cameras by other brands.”

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As they enter the supermarket, our customers are made aware of our surveillance through the public view monitor

Kees Elzinga