Northland small business owner at his wit’s end for theft

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A small business owner in Northland is stretched thin after being the victim of a crime despite closing a dairy and opening a coffee shop to avoid being robbed.

Himanshu Sharma, co-owner of Columbus Coffee located at 10 Miter Building on Porowini Ave, Whangārei, is seriously considering closing the shop and working somewhere as a clerk instead of suffering at the hands of criminals.

A cash register at his cafe containing an undisclosed amount of cash was ripped off and stolen just before midnight Friday along with several cafe cards and keys, but no damage was done.

The theft was discovered when a cash sale was held on Saturday morning.

“For five minutes after the discovery, I would pace between the counter and the kitchen, not knowing what to do. I had to change the keys and four locks. In total, I lost between $2,000 and $3,000,” Sharma said.

It’s not the first time he’s suffered losses while running a business.

Convenience stores he ran in central Whangarei before opening Cafe Columbus about three years ago had been attacked on several occasions over the past six years.

Sharma said that nothing has changed in terms of crime against businesses in these difficult times. He employs 12 people.

“How long before I decide it’s best for me to leave the business and work somewhere else? I am close to reaching that point. My main goal in opening a business was to give work to the locals, rather than to get a job. But now nothing is certain. If they can rob a cafe at night, tomorrow they will break in and rob during the day.

“Then they will go to clothing stores, barbershops, cookie shops.”

A skilled chef, baker and barista, Sharma worked at Countdown stores in the upper North Island until about 2016 before venturing into business, starting with a dairy.

With the minimum wage and other costs constantly rising, he said the business environment was “really tough.”

She reported the theft to the 105 police non-emergency hotline and spoke to a police officer at the cafe on Saturday.

A police spokesperson confirmed that CCTV footage was being reviewed as part of an investigation into the theft.

The robbery is the latest in a series of Northland businesses being attacked by criminals.