A family-owned store in Sooke has been looted of its jewelry and antiques following a brazen break-in, but community support is helping the owners get back to business.
“Probably around $100,000 in retail jewelry,” said Luke Reynolds of Reynolds Antiques & Collectibles.
Thieves broke into one of the newest businesses in town, located on Otter Point Road, sometime late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, according to Reynolds.
“Rings, of course. Took all of them. Thousands of rings. Like, everything. You know, you’ve been in,” he could be heard saying to customers coming into the store to commiserate about the robbery.
Reynolds says if there is anything positive to come out of this, it’s the response from the community.
“It’s fantastic. My parents have been here for a really long time. So, people really showed up and showed out for us,” he said.
“We take care of the community, so hopefully, the community will take care of us.”
The family opened the store in 2020, filling it with art, jewelry and antiques, and the thieves knew exactly what they were after, cleaning out the showcases full of gold and diamonds.
But it wasn’t easy for the culprits to get in.
“What we think happened was someone came through the fence on the far end. They tried to pry a window. They tried to pry the back door. Then they came around the front,” Reynolds said.
“They pried one of the doors, got into an extra room, then kicked a hole through the drywall.”
Sooke RCMP say the thieves may have tripped the commercial alarm while in the shop, alerting neighbours nearby to call 911.
Reynolds is intent on upgrading the shop’s security system and is still assessing what was stolen. While some of the losses will likely be covered by insurance, he says it won’t be enough to recover them fully.
A reward is being offered to anyone with information that leads to an arrest.
Mary Griffin
