Optical stores targeted in heists
It was a precision heist, executed by a well-organized crew, and the take was worth $40,000. That’s Mark Trudell’s assessment after his store, The Walkerville Optical on Ottawa Street, was hit by focused and fast-moving thieves who smashed through the front door in a pre-dawn burglary. Within half an hour of that breakin early Monday, someone used the same tactics in an aborted attempt to break into Visions of Canada, another high-end optical store on Riverside Drive West. Trudell said the thieves rushed past the comparatively low-end Ray-Bans in his store and went straight for the rare, limited edition and discontinued merchandise. “Unfortunately in optical, this is something that happens,” said Trudell, who was also the victim of an armed robbery in April. “Often times this happens, where it will be two or three stores in a night. It happened in the spring with some other stores as well. It’s a thing where someone is targeting and I think they have a shopping list, and I think they’re from out of town, personally.”
Windsor police said they are investigating a break and enter around 4:30 a.m. Monday in the 1400 block of Ottawa Street, and some property damage shortly after 5 a.m. Monday in the 1500 block of Riverside Drive West. They didn’t give any other details. Visions of Canada owner Paul Boyko, who has more than $300,000 in inventory and draws customers from across North America, said the culprits brought a large rock to smash his window. But they didn’t get inside the store, he said.
“They threw a rock through the front window,” said Boyko. “Where we’re at on the drive here, we’re up a little bit higher. So it wasn’t easy for anybody to climb in. Our windows are double-paned glass. If anybody would have tried to climb through there, they really would have hurt themselves.” Boyko said he also believes the two crimes were planned out and connected.
“So they went there first, did a smash-and-grab, and then the police are going to go that way,” he said.
After that, Boyko said he believes the same criminals headed to his store.
“They come by here, see if the alarm is on,” he said. “While there’s a distraction over there, they’re going to come and see if they can get stuff here. That’s a smart robbery.”
While it appears the thieves left Visions of Canada empty-handed, they escaped with a serious haul from The Walkerville Optical. Trudell said his initial estimate is in the $40,000 range. Trudell, who has surveillance video, said at least one person waited in a getaway car while two people broke in by throwing a large rock through the front glass door. They were in the store about a minute and a half.
“They must have been in here before to know where they were going to go,” said Trudell. The crooks were discerning. They went for the “exclusive” and irreplaceable, including glasses from Etnia Barcelona that have the artwork of the late Jean-Michel Basquiat on the inside of the temples.
“They took some of those ones,” said Trudell. “Those have been out of production. Etnia can’t even sell them anymore. I think the licence agreement ended at the end of last year. So I can’t replace those, and they’re gone.” Other targets included the Salt brand and Oliver Goldsmith reissues from the 1950s and 1960s, which the company no longer produces.
“Some of the stuff, they’d only make 100 of,” said Trudell. “Or the colours don’t exist anymore. Or the collection, they’re not doing that part of it anymore. So I do carry a lot of stuff where I’ll have one or two in the history of the store, and then it’s gone. That’s what is tough about curating. You have something that you think is going to be really cool, and now it’s gone and I can’t get it again.” He said the most expensive frames stolen are worth around $650. The most recognizable item is a sought-after display stand built with records by eyeglass maker Vinylize.
“The display, you can’t even get anymore,” said Trudell. “It’s records that are tiered that you put glasses on. That’s kind of their theme. That’s the thing I’m bummed most about because I can’t replace that.”