I live in a relatively low crime area. Our local Sam's club which is about 5 years old redid their front entrance.

All they did was add a string of concrete and steel poles. They had a few before that a car would not be able to get through. Now they removed the old poles and have maybe double and you can see they are much stronger.

It just seems really weird and unnecessary Are they getting ready for something?

Has anybody seen any unexplained security upgrades at big box stores near you?

If not then this is just a local thing. It could be possible that the old barriers were not installed correctly.

It seems like something like this would be one of the first concrete (no pun intended) indication that people in the know are getting ready for something we are not going to like.