Costco begins selling bollards to help auto theft crisis

Ontario Bollards’ revenue has spiked thanks to its residential bollards as more car-owners try anything they can to combat auto theft.

Costco is capitalizing on fears of auto theft by selling bollards at their stores.

You might be going in for the free samples, but you can now walk out of Costco with a pricey retractable bollard to prevent auto theft.

As Toronto continues to grapple with rampant car theft, Costco is capitalizing on drivers’ worries that their car could be taken directly from their driveway and driven off into the night. It’s another proposed solution to Canada’s auto theft epidemic, on top of police proposals of leaving keys where thieves can find them, as car owners look for ways to deter would-be thieves.

Some have turned to high-tech systems like car trackers, kill switches or even private security, while others have expanded their home search to include a garage.

While the outlook on auto theft seems to be slowing down as police forces work to stem the tide, one expert said the bollards can provide protection for those with cars that are especially appealing to thieves.

“People have been fearful (of auto thefts and carjackings),” Bryan Gast, vice-president of Investigative Services at Équité Association, an insurance industry group that works closely with police, said. Joint enforcement efforts from the province and the federal government have shown “some early signs of progress. Still, (there is) more work to be done,” he added.

So how did Costco end up selling bollards? Here’s what you need to know.

A sample of the retractable bollard sold at Costco.

The bollards, from Ontario Bollards, retail for $569.99 and need to be installed. The installation involves three-foot-long metal rods that come out of the ground that can be lifted or lowered manually. When fully extended, the bollards can be locked into a key.

They are being sold at nine Costco stores, mainly in the GTA, for an initial trial run to test demand.

Gary Bryant, the chief revenue officer of Ontario Bollards, said the whole process has moved at a whirlwind pace. Costco contacted them for a partnership — usually it takes years to cultivate a relationship with the big box giant — and the turnaround was about three weeks from the initial phone call to the bollards being sold in stores.

“I hate to use the term because it’s been so overused … but auto theft, particularly in Ontario is at pandemic levels,” Bryant said, “People are feeling that they need to take back control.”

Bryant’s company initially started off installing “anti-terrorism bollards” for high profile locations like Ottawa City Hall and Mississauga Celebration Square. But after one customer approached them for a residential bollard to protect their car, the business expanded, Bryant explained.

Profit from the residential bollard business was non-existent when they started in 2022, but so far, in 2024, the company has made $4.6 million on their residential bollards alone.

“It’s been a significant factor in our growth,” Bryant said.

The bollards can help build a “layered approach” to auto theft prevention, Gast said.

“Organized crime have targeted vehicles that are generally high value,” he added, like expensive SUVs, pickup trucks and luxury sedans, mostly for the purposes of export.

Bollards are just one way, Gast explained, of stopping auto theft. Ultimately, the goal is to make the car harder to steal.

Preventing all vehicle theft “would require somebody standing in somebody’s driveway on a 24-hour basis, (at) every driveway throughout the GTA, which obviously can’t happen.”

Andy Takagi is a Toronto-based general assignment reporter forthe Star. Reach him via email: [email protected]

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