Vandals force Tinui store to shut down

The owners of the Tinui General Store & Cafe are closing down after a second midnight attack on the business this month.
"We surrender, our hands are up," said store owner Denise Tippett.
"We've been attacked like this six or seven times since we took over the store and we've had enough. We're sick of living in a war zone."
Mrs Tippett said the store closure comes in the wake of the Tinui Hotel being possibly moved ? a Wellington couple plan to shift the historic building to Greytown ? and that the changes will have a domino "toppling" effect on the small community.
"Our business sustains the community craft shop so that would close within a year, and even if most refuse to believe it, the school would shut down within five years," she said.
The latest attack happened on Wednesday night, Mrs Tippett said, when a strengthened glass window was smashed, It will cost about $500 to replace.
It is the second incident of "malicious damage" this month after a similar night attack three weeks ago left a pane smashed in the front door of the shop, she said.
Mrs Tippett said she has suspicions as to the culprit for the latest attack, which she links to a small amount of money being owed in a casual credit arrangement.
She said a nearby Tinui resident had heard the window breaking, and soon after drove past the store to investigate but nobody else was present.
She said it seems a hammer was used to break the window.
Unlike the previous incidents, the latest has been reported to police.
Mrs Tippett and husband Carl hold a rural mail franchise for the area as well and also live nearby where they breed miniature horses.
They have run the store for six years and lease the building from the Tinui Community Trust, she said.
The couple will from next month "destock" the business and sell chattels, she said, and will not buy new stock as items run out.
Mrs Tippett said their lease on the Tinui store expires in January and that the couple have had the business on the market for several months with "many enquiries" but no confirmed buyer so far.
Profit margins from the business had taken a seasonal drop since the onset of winter that was worsened by petrol price rises, she said, as their target market "are travellers and not locals".
"Who wants to buy a boarded-up shop though? Nobody, that's who.
"But if it happens again ? and it will ? we'll just board up the holes and sort it all out once the lease expires. It'll be like living in a bunker but that's the way it'll have to be."
An informal survey of several nearby Tinui residents yesterday revealed that the store closure would be a blow to the community.
Sandy Taylor, who has two children attending Tinui School over the road from the store, said it "would be a shame" to lose the business as it "serves a good purpose here".
Jo Eastwood, a Tinui resident and Tinui School teacher, said she shops daily at the store and that the closure would have a negative impact on the community "but we're strong out here and we'll adapt. And what else are the owners to do if they're not making money?"
Lorna Meade, also a teacher at the school, said the school community does not truly "reflect the changes happening in Tinui" and that the community has the strength and solidarity to survive the removal of the hotel and the closure of the store.
Ms Eastwood said there are now about 55 children from 40 families enrolled at the school, which employs three full-time, one part-time and four support staff .
Six of the staff, including principal Hamish Fenemor, live in the Tinui area.
Tinui has a population of about 150 people and is officially defined as an area of nil or low population.