Why Pest Control is Essential for Plaza Businesses
Plazas are great locations for your business. Locating your operation near other stores and service providers gives customers the opportunity to run multiple errands without having to travel all around town, which can mean more business for you and the establishments around you.
But there’s a downside to putting your dry-cleaning operation, for example, beside restaurants, pet stores and other types of businesses. Instead of dealing with just the types of pests attracted to a certain kind of business, the more varied your plaza’s offerings the wider a variety of pests it’s liable to attract.
Be Proactive to Protect Your Plaza Business
Sticking with the dry-cleaning example, perhaps as a dry cleaner you’ve only ever really had to deal with bedbugs and moths. But now that you’ve got a restaurant on one side of you, you’ve spotted rats, mice and cockroaches. And the pet store on the other side of you brings in fleas and weevils.
Suddenly your pest management strategy has to address far more than the typical bugs you’ll find at a dry cleaner. That means you’ll want to make sure you’re following pest management best practices for any and every business, not just your own.
Whatever the good or service, it’s imperative that you protect your business from pests by following some basic preventative tips that apply to all plaza establishments.
Keep it Clean
Maintain a cleaning schedule and stick to it. Whether these tasks are divvied up between your staff or left in the care of a professional cleaning service, regular sanitation is key. Outside of scheduled cleaning tasks, take care to thoroughly clean up any spills and sweep up and discard food crumbs to avoid attracting pests looking for sustenance.
Bag it Up
Along the same lines as regular and proactive sanitation, it’s important to keep trash properly bagged and away from your building. Storing tied-off trash bags in lidded bins helps ensure that pests cannot break in and binge on any stale snacks.
Deny Entry
It might seem obvious, but ensuring that all entrances and exits are kept closed is critical. All too often, we’re tempted to prop open a door -- either for fresh air or to grant easy access for routine deliveries -- but doing so also invites pests.
Other Pest Prevention Pro-Tips
Talk to neighboring businesses and come up with some collective strategies for minimizing pests in your plaza -- perhaps you could all pool your resources and pay for professional pest management that covers the entire plaza. Chances are your colleagues and neighbors don’t want pests invading any more than you do.
Finally, talk to a pest control professional. They can help keep pest problems in check by providing through inspections and applying pesticides when appropriate. It would likely work best if you had one pest control company handling the entire plaza, but even if all you can control is your own business, a pro can give you peace of mind.
When in doubt, ask a professional. Click here to schedule a complimentary inspection with a commercial services planner to discuss your options.
