The owners of Agri Supply in Valleyview noticed more missing plants this past weekend after $500 worth of product was stolen less than two weeks ago.

(KAREN EDWARDS / iNFOnews.ca)

KAMLOOPS - After getting hit with their second theft earlier this spring, the owner of Agri Supply in Valleyview acted quickly by reporting it to police and inquiring about more security cameras.

Too late.

This past weekend, store owner Lynn Blake noticed more missing plants from the store’s outdoor garden centre when she arrived to work yesterday, April 30.

Less than two weeks ago, Blake says her store lost roughly $500 in product from the garden centre and thieves damaged a six-foot high chain-link fence to get in. This time, Blake says tulips were ripped directly from their pots.

“It looks like someone was walking by, reached under the fence and grabbed the tulips,” Blake says, adding it’s a bit of a relief this time thieves didn’t break the fence.

Blake says she has spent roughly $10,000 trying to keep up with repairs and stolen stock from last year and this year, the fence repair alone cost her $2,500.

She currently is in the process of setting up an alarm system and adding more cameras to the garden centre.

“It’s really unfortunate, but what can you do, I mean I can call the cops every time but it’s not something they are really concerned about,” Blake says. “It’s just getting a bit tedious.”

Blake says it can be challenging at times to notice when stock is stolen or goes missing in the garden centre. But the plants stolen from this weekend were new inventory.

“These had just arrived off trucks,” Blake says.

The owner continues to wonder why people are stealing from her store.

“You know I have no idea why someone would steal plants, it makes no sense to me,” Blake says. “Unless you’re reselling them, I am not sure of the motivation.”

Blake says she used to have a lot of trust in people, but after dealing with her third theft this spring, her perspective has started to change.

“We live in a different world and I guess you can’t trust anyone now,” she says.

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