Two men wearing balaclavas, one carrying a hammer, rushed into a Whangarei equine supplies store yesterday then turned tail, fleeing in a car they had left on the footpath by the door.
The owner of the Saddlery Warehouse in Herekino St, Dean Wickman, said the raid about 2.15pm was "really
weird".
"There were no demands - they didn't say a thing," he said.
Yesterday's raid followed what appeared to be an attempted break-in last weekend, when a laminated window at the front of the store was shattered, but it is understood the premises were not entered.
Mr Wickman said he and his wife, Robyn, had owned the store for five years and had never been robbed.
The most expensive saddles they have on sale are priced around $1400.
Mr Wickman and a woman staff member were in the store when a white van or stationwagon screeched to a halt beside a ram raid protection barrier at the front entrance.
"Two guys rushed in. One had a hammer and the other had something in his hand but I couldn't see it," he said.
"They ran halfway down the store, stopped, ran back out, got into their vehicle and drove off."
The drama had lasted "only about two seconds", but Mr Wickman said he and his staff member were left shaken.
They would have handed over anything the men had demanded as "you don't argue with someone holding a hammer".
Asked if there had been a third person driving the getaway vehicle, Mr Wickman said he thought there might have been.
He gave the licence number of the vehicle to police, who were quickly on the scene and had told him it had not been reported stolen.
Officers are believed to have searched for the vehicle in the vicinity without success.
Whangarei police Sergeant Craig Burrows, who was leading inquiries at the Saddlery Warehouse, said it was too early to comment on the ongoing investigation.
