The morning of Friday 9 August saw the usually calm Vince Malone, owner of Tenby Stores & Post Office, take to social media with a blistering call to arms to convenience retailers.
Prompted by an incident in which wine was stolen in his store, he posted his anger at the levels of crime and abuse he and his staff are continually exposed to, as well as the associated, ongoing costs of shoplifting to his business. ”We need to work together as communities, as a country, and we need support from the Government and all relevant agencies to rectify this outrageous situation,” he said.
Although he declined to mention specifics of the incident in that post, Convenience Store has subsequently spoken to his wife, Fiona, who takes up the story: “I first saw the shoplifter after staff told me on our headsets,” she recalls. “I confronted him and told him he needed to pay. He wasn’t happy and swore a lot, but I managed to get him to pay. But as he was paying, he was getting more and more verbally abusive.
“Vince came out just to make sure I was OK. He was trying to get the customer out the shop and unfortunately, just as he got him out, the guy turned around and punched him.”
Fortunately, Vince was left just mildly bruised by the attack, and it was caught on CCTV which has been shared with the police. But a more upsetting element of the story lies in the impact it may have on the couple’s staff - and family.
“He just got more and more aggressive. Unfortunately, Vince took the brunt of it,” Fiona adds. “The most serious incident we had before was when someone pulled my hair - which still isn’t nice and not acceptable. But usually it’s verbal abuse - particularly if we catch people doing things. Our staff could be feeling vulnerable and we don’t want them to - I don’t want to feel like that. We’ve got an 11-year-old and he was really concerned after he heard what had happened.”
Vince’s call for support and unity amongst shopkeepers on his social media post reflects what he and Fiona think about the increasing levels of store crime. “We just want to raise the point that it’s not acceptable. I don’t think we should be used as these people’s punchbags just because we catch them. They’re doing things that are wrong.
“What really brought it home was when our son was asking ’Are you going to work today? Are you sure that will be OK?’ That really hits you.”
You can read Vince’s original post here.
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