The store attendant was physically unharmed and was offered victim support.
About two hours later, a person was arrested.
Police are still trying to recover the stolen property. It is the second time within two months the Price Cutter store has been robbed.
In April, an offender fled with cigarettes and cash after threatening a shopkeeper with a mallet.
Earlier this week, staff at a dairy in Frederick St, Hastings were threatened by a robber wielding a screwdriver.
Despite the high number of robberies, Nash said police had made a number of arrests.
"Most of these robberies, from my understanding, have been by 17 to 18-year-old males. The youngest was 13 and the oldest was 31.
"This is a societal issue. When 17- and 18-year-olds are robbing dairies, it says that they're being let down by the system.
"Usually, but not always, they come from a dysfunctional home. They don't understand that there are opportunities out there for them," he said.
Nash said the Government would place 1800 new police officers around the country in the next three years, which would help the government and community groups identify why young people were committing crime.
"All the way along the system at every step, we've got to put processes in place which allow us to engage in a positive way and fill their heads with information from an early age, compared to where they're ending up at the moment, which is not a good place," he said.
"It's a life that won't end well and it's up to us to communicate these other options for kids with hope and aspiration.
"We don't want them to be written off as failures, not engaging in the school system and then being picked up by the Hawke's Bay Regional Corrections facility."
