New Columbia Ave. business sees second break-in in two months
By Kyra Hoggan
A new Columbia Avenue business has now been broken into twice in two months, to the great frustration of its owners.
Daniel Whitney, owner of Ace of Vapes, said someone notified the owner of the building first thing this morning that the company had been broken into again.
“The first time, they shattered the glass door and did kind of a smash-and-grab,” Whitney said. “So we installed shatter-proof glass.”
Unfortunately, this expedient was not enough to counter the determination of thieves.
“This time, they smashed it with a rock. Then worked at it long enough to create a hole large enough for someone to climb through it.”
“Sure, it’s discouraging – we only opened less than six months ago. We’re here to help the community, to try to help people quit smoking,” he said, adding the cost isn’t just in what is stolen, but also includes thousands of dollars in repairs. He said he finds it startling that someone would be able to do that to such a visible business, which is not only right on Columbia Avenue, but also across the street from several 24-hour businesses.
He said the situation is both frustrating and disheartening.
That being said, the store was open all day today despite the break-in, and Whitney said they have no intention of giving up now.
“Whoever is trying to stop us, we’re not going to let that happen,” he said. We’re going to keep going, business as usual.”
Well – mostly as usual.
“Alarms, etc, are being installed as we speak,” he said. “It’s my own fault for not dealing with that, even after the first break-in,” he said. “I just looked up the statistics, and the crime rate in Castlegar is so low, (those measures) didn’t seem necessary.”
He also said the store camera they had did capture images of the suspects, and he hopes anyone with any information about the break-ins will contact the police or even the store itself.
