Halifax gaming shop uses humour and community support to overcome robbery

A Halifax small business owner isn’t letting a recent break-in defeat his team of employees or the gaming community they’ve helped build.

“It was nice to how much people care and we got to see how much our community actually supports us, which is great,” said Joshua Pyle-Carter, the owner of The Deck Box Halifax.

Pyle-Carter says police phoned him on the morning of Jan. 30, informing him that his store had been the target of a break-in.

“Not my favourite Saturday but could have been worse,” he said.

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Pyle-Carter says fellow business neighbours on Brunswick Street noticed the glass in his store was smashed and immediately phoned police.

Despite having to repair smashed glass and some Pokémon gear, Pyle-Carter says the joke’s actually on the thieves because they steered clear of the most valuable goods in the store.

“They stole a couple thousand dollars worth of Pokémon and there’s like a $10,000 Warhammer display right next to it,” he said with a chuckle.

Shortly after being alerted to the break and enter by police, he posted a video of the incident to The Deck Box Halifax‘s Facebook page.

He says he was met with an immediate wave of support from customers and the gaming community as a whole.

“We had a bunch of messages as soon as it happened, even before we sort of announced it. We had people on social media who were sharing images, trying to be involved and make sure that we were OK,” he said.

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That support is similar to what two Syrian refugee-owned businesses, Grill Way & Catering and Booza Emessa, experienced last October after they were broken into.

Shortly after posting about the break and enters, people commented online that they would be out to support the small businesses as soon as they reopened.

For small business owners like Pyle-Carter, this isn’t surprising in the least.

He says support for locally owned shops throughout the HRM is something that warms his spirits, even in the face of adversity like the pandemic and a break-in.

“No one got hurt and that’s the main focus for us,” he said.