A Kelowna optometry clinic is reeling from a huge theft over the weekend.
“This is a hard hit. This is a big one,” said Dr. Nancy Friessen, the optometrist who owns Visionology Optometry.
It was around 4:30 a.m. Saturday when two suspects broke into Visionology Optometry in the Guisachan Village on Gordan Drive.
Surveillance footage shows the two masked culprits scoping the clinic out for a few minutes before smashing the door with what appears to be a hammer.
Video from inside the clinic then shows the pair quickly getting to work, emptying the shelves and grabbing high-end sunglasses and prescription frames.
“It was unbelievable,” Friessen said. “Just that feeling of like this, this isn’t real, in a sense and just realizing, oh, but it is. It is real.”
Friessen said two thirds of her inventory was stolen.
“Preliminary estimates look like the products stolen were about $20,000,” friessen said. “Could be more than that.”
What’s even more shocking, Friessen said, is the speed of the heist.
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“They broke the glass and were in and out of my shop in less than a minute,” she told Global News. “They seem to have a plan.”
Kelowna RCMP said, “the investigation to date has been thorough and is ongoing.”
Police also appealed to the public to contact them or Crime Stoppers with any information that may assist them in tracking down whoever is responsible.
It’s believed the culprits fled the Guisachan Village area on foot.
Friessen has started the insurance process and hopes to have the shelves that were emptied 80 per cent re-stocked by mid-week.
Friessen told Global News she chose the Guisachan Village for it’s quieter and safer appeal than the downtown core and never imagined something like this could happen.
She says she will now be removing her products off the shelves every night and store them in a safe place.
Friessen also said she will be installing extra security measures to prevent any future break-ins.
“I’m actually in the process of looking into getting shutters put on or some sort of a deterrent over my windows and doors, which I really didn’t want to have to do,” Friessen said.
The theft happened only two weeks away from Friessen celebrating her first year in business.
“This is a fulfilled dream of mine and I’m so happy that I’ve gotten to do it,” she said. “This happening created an uncomfortable, unwelcome vulnerability that I was hoping to not have to experience. But unfortunately, here we are.”
Despite the blow, Friessen will hold her anniversary trunk sale on Nov. 6 as planned. It will start at 2 p.m.
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