A luxury fashion boutique in downtown Ottawa is reeling after being targeted by thieves twice in just over a week—losing an estimated $100,000 in merchandise. FHENY, which is located on Sparks Street, first opened six months ago. Now, its owner says the back-to-back break-ins have left him shaken. “I haven’t even recovered from the first incident,” said Abdul Mintoo, CEO of FHENY. “Within the week, having the second one—going through this is not what I expected when I started the business.” Security footage from overnight shows two suspects breaking through the front door and grabbing armfuls of merchandise. A similar theft happened a little more than a week ago, on June 3, with thieves in and out in minutes. “They brought their car, parked it right in front of the store, and were taking products to the car, coming back in, and doing the same thing,” Mintoo said. The store specializes in high-end fashion brands—items that can’t be easily replaced. Mintoo estimates roughly $100,000 worth of clothing, handbags and accessories were stolen between the two incidents. “I was shaky. I was very unsettled,” he said. “But this is not going to stop us—we’re going to improve our security measures and have things in place to reduce this.” The way the break-ins unfolded, public safety analyst Chris Lewis says the nature of the crime points to something larger. “The average criminals doing break and enters into corner stores and whatnot is not going to have the infrastructure, the contacts and the abilities to unload all that stuff,” Lewis said. “So, it has to have organized crime involvement, using local criminals to pull it off on their behalf.” Ottawa police say they’re investigating. So far, no arrests have been made. As for Mintoo, he is hoping to reopen his physical store by next week, with added security and a renewed call for stronger protections for small businesses downtown. “I know we’ll move forward. We want to deliver what we initially promised in Ottawa and will not stop here,” said Mintoo.
