A southwest Calgary yoga studio is looking to try and put some sugar in a bitter cup of coffee.
Nova Yoga shares a building with nosh by Nourish @ Nova, a café that has had a troubling few months.
Since opening back in January, the coffee shop has been targeted multiple times in nighttime break and enters and daytime thefts.
In one instance, someone came into the shop while it was busy, went through staff belongings and took the keys to a staff member’s car, eventually stealing it later that day.
In another case, the shop was the target of an unsuccessful break and enter.
“So when I came in in the morning I had locked up the night before and double-checked both doors and came in the morning and the front door was unlocked and I went to our door and the handle was hanging off,” said nosh by Nourish owner Alissa Lees.
More recently, the shop had its front window completely smashed and the inside of the store was left a mess.
“They dumped things out of the garbages, they basically were just frantically look for some money,” said Lees.
Now, neighboring Nova Yoga is hoping that it can bring up the mood around the building by starting a food bank at the studio where customers can drop off a non-perishable food item and in return receive a free yoga class.
“Yoga and Thanksgiving, it’s all about hope and gratitude and giving and I didn’t want a bad situation to dampen what could be a really joyful time for people,” said Natalie St. Hilaire, owner of Nova Yoga.
Both owners say they believe that whoever is committing these crimes is missing something in their life and they want to try to help fill that void.
“There’s always a reason why people do what they do, so I think supporting the community, that supports these people and hopefully it all works out in the end,” Lees said.
St. Hilaire is the landlord for the property and says she intends on setting up a bigger security system, while Lees says she also plans on upping security within the coffee shop.
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