A local business owner was ‘heartbroken’ when her café was robbed overnight recently. Kirsty Nicholls, who owns ‘Duck In’ lunch bar and cafe on Cargill Place in Richmond, came into work on Thursday 6 June, only to discover a broken window and a missing till.
“I’ve only left the till in the store a handful of times since I’ve owned the business, and that was one of those times,” Kirsty said. The window frames on the front door of the business were broken where the thieves had originally tried to get in, Kirsty said.
“If they had got in the front window the alarm would have got them.”
A window further back in the café was instead broken, meaning the alarm sensor didn’t pick up any movement, and the thieves were able to steal the till undetected.
Kirsty only took over the business in August last year, and said that despite having a good start to the year, times have been tough due to the economic fallout from Covid-19.
“The first two weeks at level 2 were a real battle,” she says. “The break in, it was crushing.”
Kirsty said when she came into work the next Monday, it took her 40 minutes to work up the courage to carry the till from her car into the building.
“It makes me angry. Anybody who has done something like this after what our country has been through together, is just a real low-life.”
However, Kirsty says the community support has been ‘fantastic.’
“We did a Facebook post about the break-in which got 7,000 hits, and Pomeroys supplied us with a till for the day so we could get trading.”
Dallas from Richmond Panel Beating Service on Beach Road says that his business was broken into on the same night.
“They wrenched and buggered one of the roller doors and got in and pinched a couple of small things like battery chargers and multi plugs,” Dallas said. Dallas says the cost of the damage that was done breaking into their store is much more than the value of the items taken.
“It’s the inconvenience of having that damage done and having to have it repaired.”