Perfume thieves targeting two Napier stores caught on both CCTV and phone cameras

Kate Chrystal at Elaines on Emerson found a smashed window and shattered glass at the perfumery after thieves struck early on Saturday.

Two early-morning smash-and-grab raids in which young thieves targeted store perfumes in the Napier CBD at the weekend are understood to have been caught on CCTV and also on the phone cameras of inner-city residents.

The first of the Emerson St shopping precinct raids happened pre-dawn on Saturday at Elaines on Emerson, between Dalton St and Clive Square, and the second was at Life Pharmacy, between Dalton St and Hastings St, early on Monday.

The shop owners said young offenders were suspected in both attacks on the businesses, each of which has a history of more than 40 years in the area.

Kate Chrystal at Elaines on Emerson found a smashed window and shattered glass after an early-morning perfumery burglary on Saturday.

Elaines proprietor Kate Chrystal has been at the business for six years and relocated the shop from elsewhere in Emerson St last year, and Life Pharmacy owner Peter Bailey is a CBD stalwart who has been in pharmacy in Emerson St for 45 years.

They said the thieves “seemed to know what they were after”, but the damage to the shopfronts was expected to cost thousands of dollars more than the property that was stolen.

Glass from the smashed door showered throughout Elaines as the thieves started grabbing D’Or and other products, and Bailey said his shop’s raiders’ biggest interest as they headed to the display stands seemed to be Versace. There was no attempt to steal any drugs, he said.

Both praised the police for the quick responses. Chrystal said police were soon at the scene tracking where the offenders had fled through an alley beside the shop.

“They [the offenders] even used my car park at the back,” she said indignantly.

Bailey said because offenders were known to have driven vehicles into the street to commit the raids, as in ram-raids in the past, the offences were the latest examples of the need for retractable bollards in the laneway at the entrances and exits to block offenders driving through the shopping centre at night.