Owning your own shop is your piece of the American Dream. No matter what you sell, whether clothes, antiques, or novelty items, you need insurance that protects your business against various types of loss. From fires and theft to lawsuits and employee injuries, we here at Binford Insurance understand your plight and types of risks you face each time you open for business. As an independent agency, we can help you find Indiana insurance solutions that safeguard your business at affordable rates.
Types of Small Retail Insurance Coverage
For small retailers, risks are seemingly present 24-hours a day. Whether your doors or open or closed, there is always the potential for circumstances that could lead to an expensive loss. We can help you assess these risks and build a coverage package that protects your income and assets against a wide range of possibilities.
Property Insurance
Generally, property insurance covers the physical assets your business owns against certain types of perilous events like fire, smoke, lightning, wind, falling objects, hail, and more. This coverage helps protect any real estate structures your business owns, whether a shop or a storefront. Even if you lease your buildings, you may still need property insurance to cover damages to the inventory, equipment, furnishings, and other items you keep inside it.
Business Interruption Insurance
If a fire destroys your strip mall overnight, you could be temporarily out of business without warning. Business interruption insurance helps cover your financial losses when you are unable to continue normal business operations due to a covered event. This can include loss of net income, the cost of moving to a temporary location, and even your ongoing business expenses, such as your payroll.
General Liability Insurance
Liability is a risk for any business owner. Having a small retail business likely means hosting customers in your store and potentially assuming responsibility for injuries that may occur during their visit. Imagine what would happen if one of your workers failed to place a wet-floor sign in the bathroom after mopping. If an elderly customer falls and breaks her hip, your business could be liable for the injury. If you are sued for third-party property damages or liability, your general liability insurance can help cover your legal fees, as well as judgments or settlements against you for the victim’s medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and more.
Consider purchasing high general liability insurance limits to minimize your risk of commercial loss. If a lawsuit costs more than the available coverage in your policy, your business may have to pay for remaining damages out-of-pocket. A high-limit general liability policy combined with the supplemental liability coverage from a commercial umbrella policy can help you minimize the risk of litigation-related expenses.
Workers Compensation Insurance
If you have employees who work for your store, you need workers compensation insurance. This coverage insures employees against workplace injuries, even if your business is not ‘at-fault’ for the accident. Workers compensation insurance can cover the cost of medical bills, as well as lost wages while your employee recovered from the accident.
Commercial Vehicle Insurance
Some retail businesses use vehicles for commercial purposes. If you make deliveries from your floral shop, for example, you may need commercial vehicle insurance to protect your vans against accident-related damages. This coverage can also shield your business against accident-related lawsuits if you or one of your drivers is responsible for a collision that injures a third party or causes property damage.
Equipment Breakdown Insurance
Perhaps you have equipment that is essential for your ongoing business operations. For example, a t-shirt shop relies on its screen-printing and embroidery machines to provide services to customers. If covered equipment experiences mechanical failure or is damaged due to a power surge, equipment breakdown insurance can help cover the cost of repair or replacement.
Employee Dishonesty Insurance
If you find out too late that your employees are not trustworthy, it could result in a financial loss for your business. Employee dishonesty insurance helps protect your business against financial losses due to employee theft and fraud.
Cyber Liability Insurance
Cyber crime is on the rise, and you never know when your business could be the next target of attack. If you collect private information about customers, such as their email addresses or phone numbers, you are responsible for protecting that information. If your databases are breached by criminals, your business could be liable for the damages. Cyber liability insurance helps cover the cost of notifying customers of potential data theft and paying for credit monitoring services, as well as the cost of data recovery.
BOP Insurance for General Risks
Retail shops have many of the same types of risks in common. There is the risk of physical damages to the store, inventory, and furnishings, as well as the potential for liability due to foot traffic that comes through the door each day. In many cases, we recommend a business owners policy – also known as BOP Insurance – to help consolidate necessary coverage types like property insurance and general liability into one general risk policy. This not only simplifies coverage for the business owner, but it can also lower the combined cost of premiums for included coverage types.
Although BOP Insurance is not right for all businesses, small retail stores are often good candidates for coverage. Talk to your agent about BOP Insurance whether it could be right for you.
Indiana Small Retail Insurance Quotes
As a local, independent insurance agency, we understand small businesses. We help business owners like you find competitive rates on commercial insurance solutions from multiple Indiana insurers. By providing you with selection and one-on-one guidance, we can help you reduce your risk vulnerability and find affordable coverage that protects your bottom line.
For more information about insurance for small retail businesses in Indiana or to request your free quote, contact our office today. We look forward to serving you soon.
