The operator of a Vancouver cookware business says her store is facing “catastrophic” crime levels, and is blasting the government and justice system which she says have failed to stop it.
The Gourmet Warehouse has been located at East Hastings Street and Clark Drive for more than two decades.
CEO Caren McSherry said the location wasn’t a great area when the business moved in, but that past issues were “nothing to the epidemic proportions we are facing right now.”
She shared one recent security video clip that showed a man walk in, pick up an armful of goods and attempt to casually walk out, the type of incident she says happens multiple times a day.
“On a daily basis we will get five or six random thieves in here,” she said.
“We are talking thousands and thousands of dollars a week walking out my door. I am not alone. It is just insane.”
McSherry said some of the thieves come armed with weapons or sticks, and that the company has been forced to hire full-time security guards to ensure employees and customers feel safe.
The company has also installed metal shutters to cover all of its exterior windows.
“Small and medium businesses in this province are the backbone of the province, we employ, we pay our taxes, we’re here, we’re loyal, we are good citizens, and the good citizens are at the mercy of the bad ones, and these people rob us every day, the government doesn’t do anything,” she said.
“They just don’t have the cojones to step up and do what is right. Do it. Do what is right to protect the citizens and the retailers, or you are going to find empty shops everywhere.”
McSherry added that the company rarely reports thefts to police anymore, because officers don’t respond in time and nothing changes afterward.
Vancouver police said they are currently looking for the man in the security video.
Const. Tania Visinin said police are working as hard as they can to deal with an increase in property crime that has persisted since the COVID-19 pandemic.
But she said police can’t investigate crimes that aren’t reported. And that even if officers don’t catch a specific thief, reporting helps them allocate policing resources to crime hotspots.
“We completely understand the frustration. These small businesses are very taxed, they’re tired of this, and we get that. We need them to report these incidents so we can help them,” she said.
McSherry is calling on B.C.’s re-elected NDP government to do more to crack down on repeat offenders.
“I am pleading to David Eby and your new government,” she said.
“Do something or you will see yourself looking at empty retail spaces all over the city and this province and you won’t be able to bring them back because there is no confidence to do that.”