Lavender Lingerie the morning of Feb. 19

By Sydney Chisholm

downtown crime spree

Kamloops small businesses hit hard in break-and-enter spree

Feb 27, 2024 | 6:00 PM

KAMLOOPS – Twelve businesses in the downtown core were broken into over the course of 12 days.

“Over the last two weeks, there’s been approximately 25 reports of break-and-enters to businesses. Twelve of those reports have been downtown, specifically,” said Cpl. Crystal Evelyn from the Kamloops RCMP. “It’s unknown if these incidents are related. Obviously, the uptick does create cause for concern and we’re working on it.”

Danica Therrien opened Lavender Lingerie on Victoria Street nine years ago. While she’s had some problems with broken windows in the past, this is the first large-scale theft.

“It’s frustrating. It’s almost hurtful. It’s hard not to take it personally,” Therrien said. “You put years and passion and time and money into building something and then to have someone just, you know, smash into it and help themselves to it is disheartening.”

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Kennell’s Shoe Limited was another store hit by thefts.

“I’ve been here for over 30 years, and that’s a first for me in 30 years,” said Stephen Kennell. “[4:55] in the morning and the window got smashed and they climbed in and out of the window and took approximately 25 pairs of shoes.”

Multiple stores that were targeted say the most expensive products were taken.

“I don’t know what they’re going to do with that much lingerie, and it definitely felt like they knew sort of what they were going to grab before they came in,” Therrien told CFJC News.

Kennell noticed the same thing — only a few less expensive pairs were left behind. The value of the stolen shoes is estimated at $5,000, a difficult blow for any small business still recovering from the pandemic.

Kennell said the store just paid back its COVID loan.

“We’re very disappointed. Businesses have incurred a lot of hardship over the past few years, whether it was the pandemic, whether it’s been the tax, whether it’s been labour shortages, rising wages, supply issues,” said Howie Reimer, executive director for the Kamloops Central Business Improvement Association. “We’ve heard time and time again, small business is the lifeblood and the backbone of our economies.”

Reimer said Downtown Kamloops has been pushing for an expansion of the City of Kamloops Community Service Officer program to prevent this from happening again.

Evelyn says the RCMP has stepped up patrols in response to the spree and are enhancing security measures, but some businesses are looking at other means of security.

“We’re going to get a quote on roll shutters or bars to keep people out from the window now,” Kennell said. “I don’t really want to go shutters, but if we have to, we have to have not just bars and people can still kind of see it.”