SASKATOON – A Saskatoon business owner says buying a convenience store in the city’s Westmount neighbourhood was one in a series of mistakes after it was robbed at gun point Monday.
“I am angry with myself; I am blaming myself, the stupidity,” said Hamid Khan, 36, the owner of Westmount Foods on 29th Street West in Saskatoon. He’s originally from Pakistan and moved to Saskatoon in 2015.
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Investing all of his “hard earned money” in the small store was the second mistake Khan said he made. The first was going through a five-year process of immigrating to Canada and settling in Saskatoon, which he said was costly and didn’t result in the peaceful life he was looking for.
“I make another blunder, another blunder, so it’s a series of blunders and I hope it will finish some day,” he said.
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Khan purchased the store in January, only days after it had been robbed twice at gun point.
“I was told … it’s kind of Christmas time and in Christmas it keeps on happening so don’t worry,” he said, in-between helping customers Wednesday afternoon.
The crime didn’t stop; between vandalism and theft he estimates losses in the thousands of dollars. The small profits that his inventory brings in aren’t worth the headache of another potential robbery, he said.
“This store is not a diamond business where you get millions or billions,” said Khan.
“You get 25 cents from this one; you get 10 cents from this one.”
Saskatoon has seen 50 armed robberies so far in 2016, compared to 33 at the same point last year, according to its police service. Spokesperson Alyson Edwards said officials hope the numbers level out soon and end up at the same or lower than the 2015 mark.
“The reality is that our city is growing, we’re seeing more crimes against the person in general terms and the severity of the crimes are increasing as well,” said Edwards.
“We know that in many cases, that those are directly tied to drug addiction.”
Edwards added that the service employs officers who can visit business owners and make recommendations on store policy and procedures in an effort to “target harden” the locations.
“We do that quite often, certainly with convenience stores, fast food outlets, place that might be more vulnerable than others,” she said.
Khan said now his first priority is to sell the store and potentially leave Saskatoon. Aaron Anderson, a Westmount resident, said that would be a shame.
“When they came in they really cleaned it up and they really made it a place that you’d be proud of and that you’d want to support,” said Anderson after making a trip to Khan’s location.
He added that “it’s a really important place because it’s one of the few walk-able, bike-able places to come and get food” in the Westmount neighbourhood.