It was fifteen years ago this month at the National Retail Federation (NRF) loss prevention conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, that Loss Prevention magazine – the first magazine dedicated to LP professionals – was first introduced to the industry. A thousand copies of what was designated as the “Preview Issue” was distributed to the retail and vendor attendees presenting a concept for what was to become the leading voice for career development and education in loss prevention.
That preview issue included feature articles on organized retail theft by King Rogers, intranet-based auditing by Claude Verville of Lowe’s, return on investment by Walter Palmer, pre-employment screening by SteveMillwee, and an interview with Dave Myers of Montgomery Ward. The concept edition also included columns on interviewing by Wicklander-Zulawski and on workplace dishonesty by Dr. Richard Hollinger that continue today, as well as columns on women in LP, managing employees, and LP and the law.
Produced by Jim Lee, Walter Palmer, and this author, the concept for Loss Prevention magazine was enthusiastically received by the NRF audience with comments like “This is great” and “It’s about time” common. One LP executive who became one of the original members of the editorial board, while excited about the concept, asked, “How are you going to find enough topics to write about?” Fifteen years and thousands of articles later, we’ve answered his doubts.
The magazine has steadily evolved to the award-winning publication it is today. The current staff, most of whom were not part of the magazine fifteen years ago, will be at this year’s NRF conference in Philadelphia supporting the industry and providing media coverage in our digital and social channels that were not available in 2001 in Vancouver.
From all of the staff at LP Magazine and LPM Media Group, we wish to thank our many retail sponsors and supporters as well as our advertising partners who have made it possible to take a simple concept for communicating and informing our profession to where we are today.
