Another jewelry store robbed in St. Catharines
It was the senseless destruction by thieves that really bothered jewelry store owner Brenda Roest.
Items were forcibly knocked off counters. Custom glass display cases shattered. A pocket door kicked in when it could have slid open.
“They were very violent with their damage. It was unnecessary,” said Roest, the owner of Penner Fine Jewellers on Vansickle Road, which was broken into late Tuesday night. “It doesn’t make sense.”
Roest spent Wednesday with helpers sweeping up shattered glass, picking shards out of display cases and evaluating other damage such as the scratches on the wooden display cases original to her father Ernest Penner’s 1970s downtown store.
It was the third jewelry store robbery in St. Catharines this year and the second at Penner since November.
“We’re just trying to clean up, figure out and rebuild,” Roest said.
The store is expected to reopen next Tuesday.
Police were called to the store, located in a plaza at 436 Vansickle Rd., just before 11 p.m. after an intrusion alarm was sounded.
Three men were seen leaving the area in a black pickup truck. They took an undisclosed quantity of merchandise and currency.
Roest said the valuables are put away at night in the safe and customers who had items at the store don’t need to be concerned about their goods. What was left out was some less expensive silver and sample lines that the thieves snatched.
“My loss is so much greater than their gain.”
Police said the first culprit is six-foot and heavy-set, and wore a dark-coloured hoodie with dark pants. A second burglar is sixfoot-one, with a medium build and wore a light-coloured sweatshirt, dark pants and a face mask.
The third is six-foot-two with a slender build, and wore a sweatshirt with light-coloured pants and a face mask.
Police are asking any witnesses to call police at 905-688-4111, dial Option 3 and badge No. 9535.
Police Const. Phil Gavin said the investigation.
“Police got some good evidence so we’re hoping things happen with that and they get caught and this doesn’t happen to us or anybody else,” Roest said. “Small business people work the hardest. People like this make it all go away real fast.”