A thief was caught on camera during a daylight robbery at Michael Hill Jewellers in Takapuna. Video / Supplied
Jeweller Michael Hill has made the tough call to permanently close its Takapuna store, which was the most ram-raided in its network.
The shop first opened in 1983 and doubled its footprint in 2014 after revenue shot from $500,000 to nearly $3 million in just three years.
But in recentyears it had become the most ram-raided store in the retailer’s network.
Michael Hill chairman Rob Fyfe told the Herald this week: “Ultimately the most important thing is the safety of our people. We decided the location of that store on that corner was too exposed.”
The store was hit three times last year alone, with thieves mounting daring smash-and-grabs, once in broad daylight, their vehicle left running in the middle of the street just past the traffic lights late one afternoon.
A bystander could be heard on the video, wondering whether locals could stymie the thieves’ escape, saying, “We should get the car out of here”.
The thieves used metal bars to smash display cases inside before fleeing with bags of loot. One swung his bar at a passerby who ventured too close, and another makes a muffled reference to “that gang s***” as he hopped into the car and fled the scene.
Michael Hill chairman Rob Fyfe and New Zealand national retail manager Michael Bell at Takapuna branch, following ram raids at several of the international jeweller's stores. Photo / Supplied
Last August, police were reported to be attending another burglary at the store at 3.20am when five offenders broke in before fleeing in a vehicle.
On October 7 last year, Fyfe said the frequency of increasingly brazen attacks was reaching a level where some businesses were forced to permanently close.
“In attacking our stores, these thieves not only rob us of our products, but they rob our staff and customers of the right to feel safe as they move about our stores and shopping centres. It’s unacceptable that our staff and customers now live with this constant threat of attack,” Fyfe said then.
Michael Hill demonstrated how its fog cannons work at its Lynn Mall store, one of a raft of new security measures following a recent spate of robberies across the city. Photo / Carson Bluck
The business increased security measures, including using DNA tracking spray, in stores across New Zealand.
Traces of the solution, which is invisible and harmless, can be taken from offenders’ skin, hair and clothing to prove they were at a specific store, the business said last year.
The DNA solution remains on a person for several weeks, clinging to fibres and in creases of the skin.
Other security measures were store guards, fog cannons and alarm screamers, additional security cameras in and around stores, personal alarms for staff, and extra security measures at night.
But by last October, RNZ reported the Takapuna store had been boarded up indefinitely. Terence Harpur of the Takapuna Beach Business Association told RNZ’s Kim Hill that people were shocked.
Michael Hill after just one of last year's ram raids. Photo / Supplied
“The community is just outraged this has happened again and again in our beautiful suburb. This is a key store on the entrance to our promenade,” Harpur told Hill, referring to the $12m Hurstmere Rd upgrade to create a vibrant town centre.
The area had low crime but the jeweller was “a target repeatedly in our neighbourhood”.
A vehicle had come right through the front door in the latest ram raid, meaning extensive repair work to the premises would be necessary, he noticed. A reassessment of the store layout, entry and further security measures were being examined at the time, Harpur told Hill.
He hoped the jeweller would reopen “at some point” but he also noticed how much harder it was for ram raiders to “get a run-up and come up to the front door” at neighbouring stores. Sadly, there was “easy access for a vehicle to come in through the front door” at Michael Hill Takapuna. Some offenders were aged under 17, he noted, and came from other parts of Auckland.
The jeweller traded from here for years. Photo / Anne Gibson
Harpur said his association would support any anti-crime measures the jeweller planned to install at 3 Hurstmere Rd.
By spring, large grey concrete bollards were photographed on the Hurstmere Rd footpath, a sturdy attempt to safeguard the once-beautiful stylish black store with its modernist chandelier from those ram raiders.
The store had been shut and a roller door barred part of the front. Emergency glass and ply secured the rest. People hoped it would be repaired and restocked and open.
Now, it is six months later.
The store is empty. A sign says it has been leased. The jeweller’s name on the Hurstmere Rd frontage is gone.
Management voted with their feet on the future of that once-sparkling store beneath the Shore sun. They saw no future in it. The cost was too high.
