Big pain for Alberta duo after handcrafted razors nicked
A pair of De Winton entrepreneurs were enjoying a craft show on the West Coast when their livelihood was snatched from them in the dark of night.
On Sunday, Hugh MacPherson and Deb Rowland, owners of Avalanche Artisan, had more than $37,000 worth of handcrafted razors stolen while they slept in their Vancouver hotel room during a five-day trade show.
“We didn’t realize anything was amiss until we opened up the hatch of the SUV and realized our suitcases were missing,” MacPherson said.
The thief, or thieves, not only made off with their suitcases, but cut the padlock on the trailer and nicked dozens of pricey razors.
However, it’s more than just sentiment and a sense of breached privacy that bothers the duo.
“We spend a lot of time, up to 10 hours making each piece. We take pride in them and they’re special to us,” MacPherson said.
“It’s almost like losing a family member.”
Rowland said she is still having trouble coming to grips with how someone could do such a thing.
“Were we naive enough to think it wouldn’t happen to us? I don’t know. I think most people are good, and that this is just a bad situation,” she said.
MacPherson said the biggest scare for him is not the privacy breach, but the fact his business may now be in jeopardy.
“We needed those products, we can’t make any more without the profits raised from the now stolen items,” he said.
The pair, along with other partners Jeff and Kaylee Maciejko, said the unique razors will be easy to identify — if they’re ever spotted.
“That’s the one good thing ... if they try to sell them they are easily recognizable,” MacPherson said.