#table display

Sorry for the distracting Sailor Moon collection bg 😅✨

Kiriska: Yes, and that's the trade off.

Personally, I'd rather optimise for sales than for theft prevention, because I think the former is more likely anyway, but also some amount of product loss from damage and theft should be factored in as the cost of doing business.

It is also the case that most of my items are pretty low cost from a production stand point. It's not a huge deal if a few prints or stickers walk. I'd be more wary of having higher ticket items loose on the table though.

If I carried acrylic charms or enamel pins with lots of fancy adornments or add-ons -- I'd probably just have a display copy out that was pinned down or clipped to something that would make removing it harder/more obvious, and keep stock behind the table.

Some shirts (and definitely other types of apparel) have high production costs too, but because size and fit is important for those, you may want to hand over something for someone to try before they commit to buying anyway, which is also a theft opportunity, I suppose. But I think theft of physically large items are also less likely to happen since they're more obvious?

There are also ways to deter theft other than locking everything down. Being attentive and greeting every customer helps, etc. You can learn to keep an eye on things without being overbearing.