FORT MILL, S.C. -- Is it a crime corridor: the stretch of Highway 51 that rolls past the old video gambling halls into South Carolina?

That description took on extra meaning last week when a clerk was shot and killed. NewChannel 36 wanted to find out how area businesses are coping with the latest crime there. 

Gun shop owner Jack Sheppard and coffee house manager Mirtha Lowney are on high alert after seeing the video from the Anyday Payday store last week. It shows three gunmen busting in, jumping the counter, cleaning out the cash then shooting and killing the clerk.

"There's nothing you can do and how can you stop them? We got two break-ins in our coffee house," Lowney said, talking about the past two years.

Both of their small businesses -- Aim Right Guns and Ammo, and Aroma Coffee House -- sit near the intersection of highways 21 and 51.

Anyone crossing the border from Charlotte into South Carolina can see where video gambling once thrived. Now that video gambling is outlawed, lottery, liquor and quick cash stores have moved in.

"You don't prepare for 'if it happens', you prepare for 'when it happens,'" said Sheppard.

The area is in the York County Sheriff's Office top tier of calls for service yearly.

Area business owners say what those criminals probably didn't realize is there's a sheriff substation about 1 1/2 mile down the road on Highway 21 from the Anyday Payday store where the clerk was murdered.

These days officers are increasing patrols and checking on businesses in the area, especially those open late.

"It's common to step outside and see a sheriff's car riding by," said Sheppard.

He applauds law enforcement but has his own plan if these guys walk through his door.

"We already have our guns," he said. "We're already set. We're ready. We're ready to acquire the target the minute it walks through the door."