Thieves in Revelstoke on Saturday night went through two locked doors to get into the basement of Dose Coffee to steal a laptop and over $5000 in cash.
"They brought it into this main area," said co-owner of the shop, John Pierce, standing at the bottom of the basement stairs, "and that's when they used a pry bar or crow bar or something to jimmy it open."
The safe was stored around the corner from the stairs, in a dusty part of the basement where "work crap" is kept, according to Pierce.
"It's definitely either premeditated, someone had watched, someone had thought about it a little bit," Pierce said.
The first worker in for the Sunday morning shift discovered the broken safe at the bottom of the stairs.
This is the second time thieves broke into Dose. The first time was in Dec. 2021, during the beginning of a COVID-19 lockdown. This time they pried open the door to the coffee shop, ransacked it, and again stole over $5000 in cash.
Pierce is sure the shop's been targeted because of optics.
"We're a growing business, I think we've hit that growing point where we are worth targeting," he said.
He and his business partner, Lauren Webster, will be more vigilante to deposit their daily income. Pierce said when life gets busy, those daily tasks can fall to the wayside.
RCMP officers were at Dose Coffee Tuesday afternoon to collect more evidence for their investigation.
In a phone interview, Revelstoke RCMP Sgt. Chris Dodds, who's worked in town for the past two-and-a-half years, said that these types of break and enters are rare in Revelstoke.
He also put the onus on victims, saying to have good locks, surveillance cameras, and to keep valuables out of sight.
"There are people out there that steal," he said, "that's why it's good to be proactive."
As to what their role is to keep the community safe, Dodds said RCMP work with various organizations like Community Connections Revelstoke and the women's shelter.
And if officers aren't actively engaged with something during their shifts, they're patrolling.
"We're out there, we're always willing to be part of a solution," Dodds said. "We'd rather not be investigating thefts."
Dodds encourages people to report every crime, even if it's the theft of a $200 bike. It helps the RCMP track trends, and pay attention to whether one person is running around town stealing things.
Dodds isn't a fan of people posting about incidents on social media, saying he'd rather the RCMP hear about incidents first hand.
Right now, despite what people may perceive, there isn't a trend of thefts in town, Dodds said.
As for Pierce, he doesn't want to install security cameras, saying the violation of people's privacy isn't worth it.
Pierce wants the community to know about this incident, but not be effected by it.
The money doesn't matter to him.
"Knowing how loved we are by the community, how much support's been shown, I've honestly cried more tears of joy ... than tears of sadness," he said.
One of his customers started an online fundraiser. Pierce is grateful, but says he doesn't quite know how to feel about it, knowing there are many people out there who need more help than they do.
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