Te Puke and Rotorua jewellers resolve not to quit

Te Puke and Rotorua Jewellers owners Rod and Jannine Pearce after their Rotorua shop was raided again. Photo / Andrew Warner

“If we walk away, they win and we lose.”

Jannine Pearce and husband Rod, who own Te Puke Jewellers and Rotorua Jewellers, are coming to the end of what Jannine says has been their worst year in retail by far.

The latest bombshell was a night-time burglary at the Te Puke store - the second major incident of the year, although the first time the shop’s security has been breached and stock taken.

Their Rotorua store has been ram-raided, had its doors and interior smashed up, and suffered two other major burglaries in 2022. Less than two weeks before the latest Te Puke burglary, Jannine had to face down someone attempting to shoplift in the Rotorua store.

She says it is impossible to relax.

“Every day you steel yourself to come to work not knowing what the day will bring, and you just hope like hell you can keep yourself and your staff safe because it’s about them. It’s not about the building and the stock, it’s about keeping us and our staff safe.”

She says away from work there is no respite.

“I guess it’s that constant stress, that constant worry, just that feeling of being under tension and waiting for something to happen - it’s a bit sad.

“Who would have thought that being in jewellery, or being in retail, you had to class it as a dangerous job - that’s what the police do, it’s not what retailers do. But that’s the reality of it now, unfortunately.”

While it has crossed their minds, they are not going to quit. As well as the financial need to carry on, each time they have been hit, they have seen the local community rally around.

“Why do we stay? You can’t afford to shut down and what would we do? We’ve got mortgages to pay, we can’t afford to walk away. We can’t afford to stay at the moment [either] because the insurance doesn’t cover your loss of income which has been huge this year. This is the worst year in business that we have ever had - we don’t even pay ourselves anymore, we can’t afford to.

“You have to fork out for all the damage. Imagine what the damages are from a ram raid. But we have to pay [that] so we can keep the shop going.”

Burglars broke into Te Puke Jewellers. Photo / Supplied

Jannine says it isn’t just her family that would lose out if they quit, it is their staff and their families too.

“If we walk away, they win and we lose.”

In the aftermath of the most recent burglary, help came once again.

“[Builder] Shawn Williamson was here on [a] Sunday and he got three of his guys out to do things for us to secure the shop. They put perspex where the broken glass was so we could at least have our stock on display.

“Bronson from Cavanagh [Paint Panel Glass] came and replaced what glass he could and deglassed the cabinets because otherwise we’re trying to do it and it’s dangerous work when you’ve got big shards of glass.

“There was a lady and her children found a gold ring in the park ... and they came and handed it in.

“The CCTV camera operator was searching on the cameras and when she finished work she went out ... and she found another little gold cross that was out there because she’d just seen a glint and just wanted to make sure.

“Somebody’s gone and put a coffee credit at Marigold [cafe] for us. People are just fabulous. .... there are just so many good people who don’t want to see you having to walk away.”

She says the same thing happens in Rotorua.

“The people, the businesses rally around you. We get brought in bunches of flowers and little plants.

“Business is already really hard because of economic times, but people are coming in with little jobs just to be able to give you some sort of business which is very humbling.

“It’s a feeling I guess ... it’s a cocooning feeling of community and it’s more so here [in Te Puke] because it’s our home community.”

Rod and Jannine bought Te Puke Jewellers - then in a shop where Te Puke’s Heritage walkway is now - in 2008.

“We built this [new] building, thought to be impregnable, in 2011, so we’ve been here a long time. The Rotorua store we’ve been in coming up six years.

Jannine and Rod say they don’t want to, but realise bringing in extra security measures is inevitable.

The Te Puke store was built with double-laminated glass.

“Once upon a time that was enough - now it’s not. We have to put in roller doors, we have to put in bollards. Do we put bars on the window? That’s ugly. It’s like the stuff they do in really hostile places overseas, it’s not what we do in Te Puke and Rotorua and New Zealand, but you have to.”

A bollard is on order for the Te Puke shop but, like many other things, it has not been quick to arrive.

“And it’s the same for Rotorua , there’s such a delay and you have to find the money to pay for it. But it’s not a case of if it will happen [again], it’s when.

“We just have to hope like hell that things can be installed before the next time they come.”