"This goes hand-in-hand with health and safety, upskilling business owners and workers on how to protect themselves and what to do in a serious situation.
"It's all about having a plan in place," he said.
For the police, Sergeant Korach said it was about filling an information gap.
"The big corporates have their own people who train managers and staff, but when you're talking about a small, local shop up the road, they have nothing.
"No one comes to give them advice in the event of an armed robbery," he said.
"It's scary, because they have no plan in place.
"Last year it was ram raids, going into a property when no one's there.
"Now its armed robberies - they are coming in armed with weapons. It's only going to be a matter of time before there is a fatality," he said.
The Crime Prevention Unit had prepared a presentation and a small workshop for the meeting, and would also encourage shopkeepers to talk about their experiences.
"Experiences here in Kaikohe will be different to those in Kerikeri or Whangarei," he said. "We will go through the process of devising a plan.
"A lot of people have fire and evacuation plans, but they don't have one should they find themselves in a robbery scenario."
The meeting would also look at how police respond to incidents.
"A lot of people don't understand. If you report a robbery, why aren't the cops coming straight in? Or why haven't they turned up? You've called it in but they not here," he said.
"The reality is that the event might have happened in Kerikeri but the police are chasing the offenders down Mangakahia Road, and might have actually caught them and locked them up in Dargaville, which is why we haven't gone to the scene in the first instance.
"It's all about logistics and staff."
