A longstanding Kawerau butchery owned by the town's mayor will not reopen after being destroyed by a fire and ram-raid.
While the ordeal left Malcolm Campbell in "disbelief", he was now ready to "get on with life".
He has owned the Kawerau business for the past 46 years, and has been mayor since 2001.
"I'm at the point of my life where it doesn't really worry me much - I am ready to retire now," Campbell said.
"It is no longer going to be a business - not a butcher's shop anyway.
"It is a hell of a way to finish 46 years in business, that's for real."
Campbell said his family had been encouraging him to retire for the past 10 years.
"It's time I retired anyway. This has really forced my hand."
He arrived at Campbell's Meats early this morning to find it on fire and a car through the front window.
Camera footage showed a car driving through the front of the shop, but he said it was hard to distinguish how exactly the fire started.
Two people could be seen running from the vehicle, with Campbell describing one of them as a 'human candle'.
"He was on fire."
"I got called out and arrived downtown here. It was full-on.
"Much to my disbelief there was a motor car parked in the middle of my butcher shop and it had caught fire."
Other businesses in the Kawerau building had not been affected, however he said his shop was "an absolute mess".
Staff, family and friends had been "very supportive" and were helping clean up today.
Police were making inquiries to find the people involved. They were called to the Onslow St store at 12.30am.
Some bugger drove into the local Butcher shop in Kawerau.
— Shane te Pou (@PouTepou) October 6, 2021
The local butcher happens to be the towns Mayor . pic.twitter.com/AIlGDRjOL2
A police spokesman said it appeared the collision was a deliberate attempt to gain access to the premises.
The building had then caught fire, he said.
Two offenders ran from the scene, one of whom appeared to be injured.
A Fire and Emergency NZ spokeswoman said four appliances were called to the fire and the building was well alight when crews arrived.
The fire was extinguished and hotspots dampened down by about 3.45am.
No one was reported to be in the building at the time of the fire, the spokeswoman said.
A staff member at a nearby business, who asked not to be named, said she was "pretty mad" about the ram-raid.
Another store within the same block had been ram-raided twice in the past month and the community was fed up, she said.
"It is pretty horrific, it makes your heart race to know that someone just didn't give a s***," she said.
"Even though it is happening in the middle of the night, it is still quite frightening because you put all your livelihood into your work.
"Now we have lost the butcher shop that has been there for years."
Police confirmed that another commercial premise on Onslow St was burgled on September 20 and 28. In both instances a vehicle was used to gain access to the store, a spokesman said.
She said barriers urgently needed to be put in front of the businesses to prevent cars from driving through shop-fronts, and believed owners would shut up shop if the ram-raids continued.
"If they keep targeting the shops, why would you want to run a business from there? It is really quite scary.
"They have had enough of all the robberies, burglaries and ram raids around Kawerau."
Whakatāne District Council mayor Judy Turner described the incident as a "horrible end to what has been really been a fabulous endeavour".
She had sent Campbell a "note of sympathy" after hearing the news, but had not yet spoken to him in person.
"He is a hard-working man, and he didn't deserve this at all.
"He has faithfully served that community in lots of ways, but that business was part of what he provided for that community. It is a really tragic end."
Turner said he was one of the longest standing businessmen in Kawerau and an "amazing butcher".
She wasn't surprised to hear that Campbell planned to close the business, as she understood he was already "heading towards retirement".
"The time frame for that decision has been taken out of his hands."