There’s been a number of retail locations coming under fire for purportedly locking up items, even “essential” toiletries in their stores. But a Dollarama shopper’s recent video showing a strange plexi glass alarm set up left him, and many other TikTok users questioning what its purpose was.
Turonno (@turonno.ca) posted a viral video on the popular social media platform that’s garnered over 328,000 views and it, he shows off the bizarre contraption at the budget retail location.
The video begins with a text overlay that reads, “Dollarama, WHY?!” as Turonno narrates: “Why is purchasing shampoo like this at Dollarama?” he says as he stands in the shampoo aisle in front of what appears to be two plastic trap doors. He tries to grab a bottle of shampoo by listing one of the plastic slabs, which triggers off a litany of different alarm chimes and beeping noises for the duration that the plastic slab is left open.
He couldn’t understand why the store is being so possessive of its toiletry and bathing brands: “especially when you have trash like Old Spice and Irish Spring behind this plexi, which isn’t even locked it just has an alarm for some reason.”
Weirdly enough, Turonno notices that the “fancy stuff” that costs more isn’t behind the store’s plexi glass. “You have the fancy stuff out in the open,” he says showing off two bottles of Live Clean conditioner, before transitioning to a shot of John Frieda conditioner. “Does anyone have any answers for this?” he asks his TikTok following, hoping for some kind of response.
He directly asked in the caption for his video: “Why does Dallarama keep the shampoo behind an unlocked, alarm triggering plexi door?”
It seems that there were a number of TikTokers who were equally miffed about the presence of the alarm. One person wrote: “that alarm progression was stressful. although I kind of want to know what step 3 of the alarm is…”
Turonno replied to the aforementioned comment, speculating that the alarm was ultimately there to help folks just finish up in the store more quickly: “I couldn’t bare it any longer than that So stressful! Maybe it’s just there to make you shop faster haha”
Someone else remarked: “Because the poor only take what they need,” to which Turonno replied that he doesn’t “understand how [the plexiglass alarm] really prevents theft.”
@turonno.ca Why does Dallarama keep the shampoo behind an unlocked, alarm triggering plexi door? #dollarama #weirdtoronto #shampoo #fyp #stockyards #weirdretail ♬ original sound – Turonno aka The Button Machine
Another person said they’ve seen rates of theft going up at the Dollarama store they visit: “sadly theft is going up in dollarama. is bad. I see atleast 2-3 people stealing daily at mine” and while there aren’t specific statistics detailing theft at large across multiple Dollarama locations, there have been numerous stories circulating the media involving thieves targeting Dollarama stores and even pickpockets going after customers’ personal belongings.
One commenter said that the strange setup wasn’t present at the Dollarama location they shop at: “I was just at Dollarama at bloor/bathurst location and there was none of that. Where is this one?”
And while there were several TikTokers, including Turonno, who remarked that they couldn’t understand how the noise that sounds off every time someone cracks open the plexi glass is utterly useless when it comes to deterring theft, there are those who believe that persistent, jarring noises such as the one demonstrated in his TikTok can ultimately help to prevent theft.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Dollarama via email and Turonno via TikTok comment for further information.
