A Rotorua liquor-store manager who says he was threatened by a robber believes the situation could have been worse if his co-worker had not walked in.
Sunset Rd Bottle-O liquor-store manager Parwinder Singh was manning the counter on Sunday evening when the alleged robber walked in.
Mr Singh said it was only a few minutes before his co-worker, Deep Mann, joined him at the counter from the back room of the store.
He said the situation could have been worse if he had been the only person there.
"When [the person] thought it was just me in the store [the person] was much more brave.
Mr Singh said he had been working at the store, formerly Sunset Liquor, for about a year-and-a-half and had never experienced "something this badbefore".
"We occasionally get the drunk people coming in who cause minor problems but for the most part people have always been respectful and polite in the store."
Mr Mann has been working at the store for about seven months and was shocked by the incident.
"This was the worst thing that has ever happened in the store and we didn't know what to do because it had never happened before."
Mr Mann said since the incident they had increased the number of staff working.
"Usually on Sunday evenings or weekdays we would have one person working but now we will always have at least two to prevent anything happening again," he said.
"While it was a bit scary, we are going to continue working at the store."