For a fourth time in a little more than two and a half years, a local business has been the target of break-ins and the owner is beginning to wonder why he is still trying to make a living dealing with all of the grief.
Weymouth Mercantile owner and operator Larry Veinot said thieves broke into his store not once but twice in the early hours of Aug. 20 and stole more than $8,000 worth of cigarettes.
“This is the fourth break-in and I feel that a small business owner like myself has a tough enough time competing against the bigger businesses, and when something like this happens you are left wondering why you are trying to make a living,” he said last week.
Veinot said thieves threw a rock at a small window in the front of his downtown Weymouth store around 2:30 a.m. on the Wednesday morning.
“There were two who came to the front of the store with masks on and after the window was broken they removed all the glass in order to get inside,” he said. “One person stayed out to keep watch while the other quickly removed as many cigarettes as possible.”
Although Weymouth Mercantile has motion sensors and glass breakage alarms, the alarms did not appear to sound and Veinot said he and the installer will be investigating it.
A little over an hour after the first break-in, three people returned and this time the alarm sounded.
The store owner said two thieves entered the store to take more cigarettes, lighters and medication, while one remained outside to keep watch.
“I got the call and came right down and the RCMP arrived sometime later, but of course it was all too late,” he said.
Veinot’s wife Valarie said even though the couple have security, she feels like they are sitting ducks.
“It’s almost like thieves are targeting us,” she said. “We just want to run our business on a positive note and I’m tired of the negativity associated with our store.”
Larry Veinot said a resident who lives across the road was alerted to something when his dogs barked but by the time he got up and investigated no one was there.
Veinot boarded up the broken window along with another and said he will close off those two windows.
The businessman said he loves Weymouth and opened the store as a service to the community.
“We didn’t have to open the store, but we did and it has created jobs,” he said. “But with these thefts we could close next week. It is that close.”
The losses are out of the store’s cash flow, Veinot added.
“Even though I have insurance, this robbery is a ‘put you out of business’ kind of thing.”
Some of the stolen goods have been recovered and RCMP are investigating the robbery and asking anyone with information to contact the Digby detachment or Crimestoppers.
For a fourth time in a little more than two and a half years, a local business has been the target of break-ins and the owner is beginning to wonder why he is still trying to make a living dealing with all of the grief.
Weymouth Mercantile owner and operator Larry Veinot said thieves broke into his store not once but twice in the early hours of Aug. 20 and stole more than $8,000 worth of cigarettes.
“This is the fourth break-in and I feel that a small business owner like myself has a tough enough time competing against the bigger businesses, and when something like this happens you are left wondering why you are trying to make a living,” he said last week.
Veinot said thieves threw a rock at a small window in the front of his downtown Weymouth store around 2:30 a.m. on the Wednesday morning.
“There were two who came to the front of the store with masks on and after the window was broken they removed all the glass in order to get inside,” he said. “One person stayed out to keep watch while the other quickly removed as many cigarettes as possible.”
Although Weymouth Mercantile has motion sensors and glass breakage alarms, the alarms did not appear to sound and Veinot said he and the installer will be investigating it.
A little over an hour after the first break-in, three people returned and this time the alarm sounded.
The store owner said two thieves entered the store to take more cigarettes, lighters and medication, while one remained outside to keep watch.
“I got the call and came right down and the RCMP arrived sometime later, but of course it was all too late,” he said.
Veinot’s wife Valarie said even though the couple have security, she feels like they are sitting ducks.
“It’s almost like thieves are targeting us,” she said. “We just want to run our business on a positive note and I’m tired of the negativity associated with our store.”
Larry Veinot said a resident who lives across the road was alerted to something when his dogs barked but by the time he got up and investigated no one was there.
Veinot boarded up the broken window along with another and said he will close off those two windows.
The businessman said he loves Weymouth and opened the store as a service to the community.
“We didn’t have to open the store, but we did and it has created jobs,” he said. “But with these thefts we could close next week. It is that close.”
The losses are out of the store’s cash flow, Veinot added.
“Even though I have insurance, this robbery is a ‘put you out of business’ kind of thing.”
Some of the stolen goods have been recovered and RCMP are investigating the robbery and asking anyone with information to contact the Digby detachment or Crimestoppers.
