Lisa Farshi was nervous putting out fresh baked cookies and pies at her North Cowichan farm stand Wednesday since it has been hit repeatedly by thieves.
“It’s really awful,” said Farshi, who is with Bite Me Cookie Company.
“All we’re trying to do is be helpful during COVID and have a little bit that people can buy without lots of folks around and it’s really sad that we had to put a big chain on things at night. We were going on the honour system and somebody’s just been driving around taking what they want.”
Bite Me Cookie Company‘s fridge has now been secured with a chain after repeated robberies from stands in the area.
The most recent theft in the area was caught on surveillance at a farm stand in North Cowichan on Monday night.
In it, a man can be seen entering the stand, then allegedly prying off the cash box and fleeing with it.
“It just makes you feel like you can’t trust anybody,” said the owner of the farm stand. The family that runs the robbed farm stand asked that CHEK News protect its identity.
“We work really hard to put our things out there,” said the farm stand’s owner.
“And then when someone goes out there and takes things it really makes it hard to go back out and do it.”
On Wednesday the farm stand’s owner turned over the surveillance video to North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP.
According to Const. Carlie McCann with North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP, several farms have been recently hit in already tough financial times due to COVID-19.
“It has been a particularly difficult season for small and local businesses,” said McCann.
“And the loss in revenue that comes from thefts like this makes it more difficult for farmers and other producers to recover from the losses.”
“If it doesn’t stop, we have to stop,” said Farshi.
“Because you can’t just keep putting things out and having people take it.”
Skye Ryan
