WATCH: The owner of a store in Colwood is shaken after his store was robbed Saturday night ? at the 88 Mini Market. It’s the second robbery there this month. Luisa Alvarez reports.
An armed robbery took place Saturday night at the 88 Mini Mart on Owens Road, next to Wishart Elementary School in Colwood.
It’s normally described as a safe and quiet family neighbourhood.
“A male was reported to have entered the store, demanded money and left on foot,” said Sgt. Beardsmore with the West Shore RCMP.
The entire incident was all caught on the store’s security camera’s.
The time stamp on the surveillance footage shows it was 6:46 p.m. when a man in what looked to be a light coloured hoodie can be seen running across the screen.
Then from another surveillance camera inside the same man, who according to police was armed with a knife, is shown pointing at the till demanding money.
The cashier is then seen put it in a white bag.
The alleged robber then runs out of the store and is caught on camera again. This time the time stamp shows 6:47 p.m., meaning the entire robbery happened in one minute.
“No doubt disconcerting to the proprietor but no injuries and nobody is in a bad way as a result of this, fortunately,” said Beardsmore.
It’s not the first time the store has been robbed.
On Feb. 16, another robbery took place. The thief, which according to the owner Eric Zhu appeared to be masked, took off with $700.
Zhu says this time they didn’t get more than $200.
Zhu appeared to be really shaken up when he spoke to CHEK News Sunday.
With tears in his eyes, he said him and his family live just behind the store and they don’t know what to do. They were told by previous owners when they bought the place that it hadn’t been robbed in over 25 years, and now its happened twice in just one month.
Zhu has only owned the store for under two years but says he can’t imagine it being anyone from the neighbourhood.
He described all his clients as very kind, which is why he started the promotion at his store to give a free pop with every $16 dollar purchase. Zhu says it was his small way of giving back to the community that has welcomed him.
As of last night, the suspect is still at large.
Both robberies are still under investigation, and police were unavailable to provide any updates.
Luisa Alvarez
