Just nine days after Handmade Heaven in Haliburton opened its doors, a brazen daytime theft has left owner Sam Milne and staff “shocked.”
However, an outpouring of support from the community in the wake of stolen cash from the till has bolstered their moods.
Milne said that on Aug. 9, “we had a couple in the store pretending to buy items and distract my staff. The male went behind our cash desk and stole a substantial amount of cash from our till.
“This is a really big hit to our Handmade Heaven store as we have been open less than two weeks. As my staff followed the remaining female out of the store, her male partner was already waiting in the getaway car in the middle of Highland Street and took off east on Highland Street.”
Milne said it happened just before 2:30 p.m. last Friday. He said they appeared to be expert thieves.
“Obviously, I was in shock.”
He said everyone in town was saying that the same type of thing had happened elsewhere. One story was that the suspects pretended to drop change and then stole a wallet from a purse behind the cash at another store. He said he heard stories from along Hwy. 48, and Fenelon Falls.
He said it appeared the couple had been on an Ontario-wide crime spree.
Store owner appreciates community
OPP said Aug. 14, “this was a distraction theft, not a robbery. No weapons or violence were used. Haliburton Highlands OPP has canvassed local establishments for video in attempts to identify the suspects. The incident is still being investigated and we are following up on any possible leads we receive.”
Milne said people had responded to a post he put up on Facebook. One woman, who asked to remain anonymous, dropped off a card with some money, writing “I hope this helps in some way.” The store owner said, “with all of this going on, I definitely wanted to take something negative and put it to a positive. That’s the way I always do things. But I wasn’t expecting that at all. I said ‘are you sure? Do you want me to say your name?’ She said ‘no’. It was just amazing. He added that on Aug. 13 another person dropped in to donate money and would not take ‘no’ for an answer.
“It goes with everything that’s been about this store since we opened. This store is doing better than our stores in the mall. It’s literally triple what I thought it would be. There’s so much support. Everybody in the store is amazing. My staff say ‘these are the friendliest people that we’ve ever come across’.”
He said this incident is a definite blip. “It was just people from who knows where up to no good.”
He hopes to never see the people who robbed the store again, and hopes they are caught by OPP.
The store opened Aug. 1 in the former Halco Electronics space. It is Milne’s sixth location, with stores in Peterborough, Barrie, Oakville, Markham and Toronto.
