For the third time a local business women has taken to social media about her fears after her shop in the downtown core was vandalized over the weekend.
Taryn Stephenson Thoews, who co-owns T's Once Upon A Tea Leaf on 224 Street with her mother, Cindy-Lea Stephenson, said she was alerted to a person with a hammer outside the store at 4 a.m. on Saturday.
The person tried to smash the front door and the storefront window with what appears to be a hammer, but was unsuccessful because of a special film they installed on the glass.
Thoews posted a video online which shows a person, who looked to be dressed all in black with a mask over the lower portion of their face, approach the front door of the business around a corner first before returning from out of sight to attempt to break the front window with the tool.
The person repeatedly hammers the front window with the tool and pushes, then kicks at the window as well, which doesn't break.
Thoews believes the person is male and that they are being targeted.
"This is targeted. This is the 3rd time. I haven’t been able to find the words to articulate this but some friends have put my feelings into perspective. This guy was dressed and armed to do a job. He had a can of something in his hand. He had an intent to ruin. This is so scary and we are being harassed," said the business owner online.
The Ridge Meadows RCMP confirmed they responded to a report of vandalism at the store at around 4:05 a.m. on Sept. 7, and found damage to the front window glass.
"At this stage of the investigation, police cannot say if this incident is related to a previous incident that occurred in September 2023. This is an active and ongoing investigation and no further information is available at this time," the police agency said.
"Do we have footage. Yep. Will it matter? I dunno. It sure didn’t last time," Thoews said, referring to an attack on the business in the early morning hours on Sept. 21, last year. During that attack the person managed to smash the glass of the front display window, as well as the glass on the front door, and they threw, what Thoews described, as smoke bombs into the store which caused widespread damage of all the inventory. Nothing, though, was stolen from the business.
The store was forced to close for more than a month. Thoews and her mother held a gran-re-opening on Nov. 12, 2023.
In June of 2022, their store was vandalized in a similar manner – the front windows were again broken and someone threw a zap-strapped can of bear spray into the interior of the store.
"Mum and I are feeling vulnerable and scared. We are so grateful that the product we invested in worked but this feels too targeted and suspect that this person will keep trying," said Thoews online about this latest attempt at vandalizing their store.
Thoews and her mother have received multiple notes of support from the community.
Lara Lee said this has got to stop.
"How much more can you ladies endure? This is painful to watch. Something needs to be done, we can't keep losing businesses that means so much, and you ladies do so much for the community," commented Lee.
Aisha Pollard-Douglas said that something needs to change and suggested that "patrol" needs to sit and wait for this person to do it again the culprit can be found.
"I agree - this was targeted; and is VERY scary!! He wasn't randomly strolling down the block -- or intent on randomly vandalizing any shop. He didn't continue down the street to hit the next shop in line. I am heartbroken; and at a total loss as to why someone would do this to our sweet little tea shop," said Joanne Antoniak.
Despite everything, Thoews said she still loves Maple Ridge and believes the downtown core is vibrant and can be great.
"I can’t even begin to imagine what would have happened this time if he was able to break in. We would be done. Finished. We could not come back from this a second time. We are barely back now," she said, noting the store will be open Saturday from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. and from 12 p.m. until 4 p.m. on Sunday 12-4. "Trying our best to be positive and put on a brave face," she added.
