Boutique wine and craft beer shop in Paraparaumu Beach was ram raided earlier this morning - but the thwarted thieves fled empty-handed.
Video footage shows a white sedan driven into the front of the WineCraft shop at 5.42am smashing windows and a few cases of wine.
The driver, dressed in black with blue face covering, jumps out and wrestles with the security screening but can't gain full access.
A second person hops out of a blue car to help but both are unable to get inside so they run away and get into a third vehicle, another white sedan, before driving off.
The shop front was badly damaged, some cases of wine were destroyed, and there was damage to a large chiller too.
"The worst part is probably having to repair the chiller.
"They're obviously not that smart because they were never going to get through there because there's no room.
"They pushed the security screen, out but it held, and what were they going to do – steal a couple of bottles of wine, for thousands of dollars worth of damage?
"They're never going to get invited to Mensa.
"Hopefully I'll be able to get the council to put a bollard in front of the shop because they've got random bollards everywhere but they don't appear to make any sense."
Police are making inquiries into the ram raid.
Kāpiti Coast Chamber of Commerce deputy chair Bede Laracy said the ram raid showed "a complete lack of imagination in our criminals".
"It's just copy-cat stuff from what we're seeing in Auckland."
Laracy said he was sad to see WineCraft targeted, as it was a "reasonably new" business in the area and was doing some really great stuff.
