‘What it’s all about now’: Calgary vape shop has been robbed a dozen times

A brazen smash-and-grab robbery at a southeast vape shop Wednesday morning has left a store owner wondering if he'll have to shut down for good.

Calgary police are investigating after a southeast vape shop was broken into Wednesday morning.

Police say they were notified after an alarm went off at the business in the 5300 block of 17 Avenue S.E. at about 5:30 a.m.

Police say several items were taken from the store.

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One Stop Vape Shop manager Chris Frazer-Harrison said he got an alert about a break-in at the shop and found that a pair of suspects used a truck to smash its way into the store.

“When they broke in, they took a thing for recycling then went inside and stole a bunch of disposable vapes and then left,” he told CTV News.

The cost of the stolen merchandise, along with the damage to the store, is more than $50,000, Frazer-Harrison said.

High-cost vapes are a target

This isn’t the first time that his store’s been targeted and, with the higher cost of vape products, he said it’s happening more and more.

“He didn’t take cash,” Frazer-Harrison said. “Sometimes there’s a little float in the till –didn’t even touch it.

“He was only concerned with the vapes and only on the new products.”

Frazer-Harrison says vapes are a high-risk item because the added taxes on them have increased prices to “almost an unaffordable state” and provincial regulations have made the business dangerous.

“All our windows have to be tinted. Just last year, we got robbed at gunpoint.”

He adds it also makes it very expensive to run the business, because of insurance premiums alone.

“This might put us out of business,” he said. “Once we put this through our insurance company, or premiums are going to go through the roof.”

This latest incident is the 10th or 12th time it’s been robbed, Frazer-Harrison said.

Each time, the thieves have targeted vapes.

“That’s what it’s all about now,” he said.

Police are continuing to investigate.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call police at 403-266-1234 or Crime Stoppers.