Red Shelf Decor had their windows smashed during the first break-in early Sunday morning, and their front door window smashed during the second break-in around 3 a.m. the next day. (Red Shelf Decor Facebook Page)

By Jordan Davidson

windows broken

VIDEO: ‘Just bad luck:’ downtown Nanaimo business owner remains positive after pair of same-night vandalism incidents

Jan 4, 2023 | 5:00 PM

NANAIMO — A beloved downtown business isn’t letting a few broken windows keep them down.

Red Shelf Decor on Commercial St. is dealing with a pair of early morning vandalism incidents this week, causing damage to their door and front windows, with thieves making off with some goods.

Owner Steven Johns said he got the call from police around 12:15 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 2 saying both of his front windows had been smashed.

“The police called me…and said both the windows had been smashed. The alarm didn’t go off because it was just the windows. The neighbour across the street heard it and called the police.”

While those vandals didn’t appear to have stolen anything, some opportunistic thieves took advantage.

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“Nothing was stolen by whoever smashed the windows, but then (others) grabbed some things out of the window before the police got there.”

Once police were on scene, Johns arrived and boarded up the windows before heading home.

But unfortunately, it wasn’t the end of his night of bad luck.

“I went and had it all boarded up, and then went home that night and then got called around 3:30 (a.m.) and the person had been back and smashed the front door in and gone in and stolen a pile of jewelry.”

Johns has been at his location for four years and said this is the first time he’s had to deal with an incident like this.

“We don’t get very much trouble, we have a good community around us.”

He told NanaimoNewsNOW he’s more concerned about the damage keeping his doors closed instead of the cost of the stolen items, but luckily he’s receiving plenty of community support.

“It’s more just the damage that sucked. The positive is, the Chamber of Commerce has come forward to help, the City is helping, my landlord is helping, so there is a lot of people trying to help.”

The front windows and door of Red Shelf Decor on Commercial St. were boarded up Wednesday morning following a vandalism spree which saw several items stolen. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

The City of Nanaimo approved an annual fund for graffiti removal and vandalism recovery in October 2022, which is run by the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce.

“At the end of the day, the message is that it’s not a downtown thing, it was just bad luck, it was just one bad night and we still love downtown and will be back bigger and better than ever…we love downtown.”

Johns said the store is closed for now as he deals with the situation, but he plans to be open again and ready to serve the community he loves by Friday, Jan. 13.

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