One store in West Kelowna sells thousands of dollars in goods and 10 bars of ice after a hardware store was broken into in the early hours of Friday morning.
After surveying the scene for a few minutes, shortly after midnight, a man smashed the front door glass of West Kelowna’s Home Hardware and went inside. And for some reason the store’s alarm didn’t go off.
“If you look closely, he obviously has something in his hand and is actually breaking the tempered glass with a tool. Then he just walks in,” said Steve Corothers, the shop owner.
“Our security company is investigating their equipment to see why the motion sensors weren’t triggered, but he was in the store for a few minutes and grabbed a couple of vacuum cleaners and then left. With no one alerted, he appears to have come back about 45 minutes later and seen that the coast was clear and then came back for the other six vacuums he took. “
Eight Dyson vacuum cleaners, valued at approximately $ 4,000, were taken during the robbery. The thief also headed out with about 10 Nestle ice cream bars when he left the store.
When Corothers arrived the next morning and discovered the break-in, he set off the alarm as he entered his own shop.
“The security company has no activity between the time the system was armed on Thursday evening and the time I walked in and triggered and disarmed it on Friday morning,” he said.
Since its business is considered essential, Corothers did not have to close its doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic and it has kept all of its employees busy.
“Things could look a lot darker if … our business suffers and something like this happens,” he said.
“We haven’t had a drop in sales so we’re in a really lucky position.”
Surveillance footage inside and outside the home hardware has captured many footage of the thief, and although his face is partially covered, Corothers hopes someone can identify him.
“Hopefully we can catch the person, but it would be nice to get the goods back too. I know that doesn’t happen often, ”he said.
Anyone with information about the theft can contact the RCMP in West Kelowna at 250 768 2880.
