It was just over a month ago business owner Sunny Braich was cutting the ribbon to celebrate the grand opening of his new eyecare shop in downtown Bradford.
Today, he's sitting with almost no inventory after a break-in at the shop last week.
The incident occurred sometime between the evening of Friday, Oct. 15 to the morning of Saturday, Oct. 16. at Bradford Eyecare, 107 Holland St. East.
When Braich got into the shop Saturday morning to see the damage caused by the break-in and all his designer inventory gone, he panicked.
"It was like a scene out of a movie, I couldn't believe what happened," he said. "They (the suspects) came in with a drywall cutter but I guess they used some kind of force to kick in the wall and cut the drywall."
He said police told him optical stores are often a target for thieves, oftentimes breaking in through the roof.
Braich wants to warn other business owners in the area to be alert for these types of incidents.
"To me, it's important for small businesses in the area to feel protected," he said.
This was Braich’s first eye care store which offers eye exams, frame and lens work, and provisional eye care. The store also designs and customizes its own frames and glasses.
He didn't give an exact dollar amount of how much inventory was taken, but says it's "the bulk" of his store. Braich says it was mostly all his designer products that were stolen, including customers' already paid for merchandise
"We're going through the insurance and we're just trying to take it one day at a time," he said. "It's just the mental stress that's the hardest...it's uneasy, I feel very eerie in Bradford now."
South Simcoe Police are appealing for the public's help with the investigation.
Anyone with information, dashcam, or security footage is being asked to contact the South Simcoe Police at 905-775-3311 or Crime Stoppers.
