Staff at boutique Wellington store resort to chasing thieves down street

Staff at a boutique store in Wellington have resorted to chasing thieves down the street to wrangle back $1,700 dresses and $600 handbags.

Coco Wellington manager Emily Chin told the Herald crime in the area in and around Willis St has got a lot worse in the last year.

The most recent incident happened two weeks ago when Chin was in the back room and her colleague Becky Rodgers was looking after the store.

Chin said a woman came in enquiring after a jumpsuit, which distracted Rodgers.

Meanwhile, another woman picked up two handbags, worth $600 each, and ran away with them.

Rodgers immediately ran out the door in pursuit of the bags - her slides coming off in the process, leaving her barefoot.

"She ran right down the street", Chin said.

The manager of Coco Wellington says crime has got a lot worse in the past year. Photo / Coco Wellington

"The girl was holding the two bags and Becky tried to fight them off her, but she wouldn't give them up ... Becky does boxing and is always at the gym, so she's quite a strong girl and managed to grab on to the bags."

After some pushing and shoving the thief eventually let go, Chin said.

A getaway car was parked on nearby Boulcott St, which a member of the public managed to snap a photo of after the commotion, she said.

A police spokesperson said one person has been charged in relation to a shoplifting incident at a Wellington retail premises on January 18

"Police are not seeking anyone else in relation to this incident. There are no further updates at this time."

The incident happened soon after nearby luxury leather handbag label Yu Mei's studio was broken into.

The thief cleared out 70 handbags with a retail value of close to $50,000.

Thieves have targeted expensive dresses and handbags. Photo / Coco Wellington

Thefts had got a lot worse in the past year, Chin said.

"I've probably chased about three people down the street because they've tried to steal stuff from us. I think Wellington has got so much worse around this area, it's really sad."

Chin said she felt like the only option was to go after thieves, especially when individual items were so expensive.

She said people were more sneaky when they targeted clothes, like the time she chased after a $1,700 dress.

"They hide behind the racks and try and put it in a bag or in their tops."

According to police data analysed by the Herald, the number of thefts in the city has slowly, but steadily, increased since 2017.

The Herald's Crime in the City series found that in 2020 it dropped right off, but was on the rise again and surpassed pre-Covid highs, with a high of nearly 400 thefts in May.

After posting CCTV footage of the handbag incident on social media, Chin said she has been contacted by other businesses with stories of staff being threatened with a screwdriver, or narrowly avoiding being physically hit.

"It's not just only us being targeted, it's all these other small businesses and during this time with Covid, we're already struggling as it is. So, to have to deal with something like this on top of everything that's going on, it's such a shame.

"It's getting worse and I'm just worried someone is going to get hurt."