Buffalo Bills Warwick’s viral surveillance strategy will ‘make people think twice’

After a spate of thefts across his stores, one Warwick business owner has taken a leaf from the wild west, posting a bounty to name and shame offenders targeting his small business. And it’s gone viral, with other businesses asking for tips.

After Nick Martin’s western apparel and accessory stores began to be targeted by thieves and shoplifters, he looked to how frontier justice was handled during the time period that inspired his business name.

Taking a leaf from wild west wanted posters and bounty hunters, his strategy for dealing with those who want to steal his wares has quickly gone viral on social media.

The Warwick-based former mine worker has dealt with many issues running his small business, Buffalo Bills Western, ranging from online competitors to the Covid-19 pandemic. However shoplifting has provided new challenges in recent months across his Warwick and Darwin stores.

So he decided to take matters into his own hands.

Buffalo Bill's owner Nick Martin is viral on Tiktok and Facebook with his creative marketing for his Warwick store.

The new technique, inspired by bounty posters of the old west and ‘do not serve’ pin-ups in pubs, has quickly proved effective for the business owner.

He said his new system, which calls on the public for help with tip-offs, has been effective, with his page flooded with messages with the ID of shoplifters to claim the promised reward.

Mr Martin said lots of “little detectives” found the alleged thieves when posted online, and that he was happy people wanted to support businesses in the area.

“I think a majority of people feel for small businesses like us because they know how hard it is, we employ local people, and we try our best to be competitive,” he said.

“They side with us quickly, because they don’t want people pinching stuff in a close-knit community like Warwick.”

Mr Martin said other businesses reach out and say they have been targeted by the same shoplifter, and it builds a “community” within local businesses which support each other.

“It’s like a ‘this patron is banned’ signed at a pub, it’s public awareness. We all want to help each other and create a network to stop this from happening.”

Fitzroy Street's Buffalo Bills store

One recent post exploded on social media, after a man was blasted online after allegedly stuffing a $120 shirt in his sleeve and walking out of the store.

“We had to be careful with how we worded it, we often give a free stubby cooler with any purchase so we said ‘we didn’t get the chance to give this person a free cooler’,” he said.

“Ninety-nine point nine per cent of our customers are repeat consumers that we know and trust, we find that we can clock a would-be shoplifter once they go into a changeroom and stuff an item under their shirt.”

Mr Martin said the business did their best to have a creative online presence, but he was still getting used to going viral and being one of the bigger influencers in the wider region.

“The funny thing is, some of the shoplifter posts, like one in the Territory, are our most shared posts, so I suppose every cloud has a silver lining.”

You can find Buffalo Bills Western on Facebook or Tiktok, or visit their store on Fitzroy St.