Four Square theft 'kick in the guts'

FILE

The theft of a cash register box at the Edmund Rd Four Square has been a "kick in the guts" for the store's owner who spent the weekend celebrating two wins at the business awards.

A Police Northern Communications spokesman told the Rotorua Daily Post a theft had happened at the store around 8.50am.

Edmund Rd Four Square owner Darren Huston said a man entered the store and ripped the cash register box from behind the staff counter.

He said this was the first time "anything like this" had happened in the last two years.

"It has been a bit of a kick in the guts after such a great weekend for the team, taking away two awards at the Westpac Rotorua Business Excellence Awards."

Mr Huston said he was standing on the shop floor when the incident happened.

The Four Square supermarket opened in 2013 and won the Emerging Business Award and Retail Business Award at the weekend.

Rotorua police Senior Sergeant Geoff Barnett said the offender went into the store "grabbing the till box before running back out of the store without confronting anyone".

He said police were looking for a maroon Subaru or Mitsubishi sedan in relation to the incident and if anyone saw a car fitting that description around Edmund Rd at the time of the theft, they should contact police.

Mr Barnett said there had been a similar incident at another store, but at this stage not enough information was available to say whether they were connected.

- Anyone who has any information about the theft should call police on (07) 348 0099.