It snows like clockwork every evening during the holidays at The Grove, a chic outdoor shopping mall in the Fairfax neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Hundreds turn out for the nightly shows for what is probably the closest central LA comes to having a white Christmas.

This year the holiday merrymakers will have more company than usual after the property owner, Caruso, boosted its security presence at The Grove with off-duty police and even special weapons and tactics team members.

The build-up comes after a wave of smash-and-grab thefts in LA and across the US — including an attempted break-in at a Nordstrom store at The Grove in late November. About 20 suspects used hammers to try to beat through the retailer’s  storefront windows, but were slowed by the ballistic film that Caruso had installed to reinforce the glass. Three people were arrested.