A bottle shop owner has spoken out after two men allegedly walked out with about $750 worth of alcohol in a brazen theft, with one carrying dozens of cans while the other grabbed bottles of spirits.
Bottle-O-Bros co-owner Eddie Labbard told NewsWire the men entered his Gregory Hills store in Sydney’ southwest on Sunday evening before allegedly making off with the stock while a female staff member was working alone.
Mr Labbard said one of the men loaded up on multiple 10 packs of premixed drinks, including Hard Solo, while the other allegedly took five expensive bottles of spirits, including Grey Goose vodka.
He said the pair’s behaviour quickly raised suspicions, with one man standing near the store’s sliding doors, with his back to a security camera, while the other approached the counter with the drinks.
“He said, how much for all this?” Mr Labbard said.
“But he was holding it away from the counter and our attendant thought, ‘OK that’s a bit weird, I’ve got to scan them, I don’t have prices on the top of my mind’.”
The staff member scanned the items and told him the price before the second man entered and allegedly grabbed five bottles of spirits.
Mr Labbard said the pair appeared to linger around the counter, with one repeatedly moving near the sliding doors to make sure they stayed open, before both took off with the stock.
The staff member did not attempt to stop them in line with the company’s training on theft and personal safety.
“Obviously, our attendant was not going to chase them out of the store or do anything silly because you don’t know – are they carrying weapons? Are they going to get violent?” Mr Labbard said.
“Our staff are very well trained to handle that situation; stock is stock, that’s replaceable. A human being is not.”
Mr Labbard estimated the value of the stolen goods to be about $750. He said the quantity of the drinks taken was particularly surprising, with some of the premixed cans packed in large bundles.
“The 10-packs, they come wrapped, three of them together, so they took two of those packs. That’s already 60 cans, and then he’s stuck another extra 10-pack on top of that,” he said.
“That’s quite heavy. It’s not light, carrying 70 cans at once.”
The incident prompted Mr Labbard to publish an angry post on social media, calling on residents to help identify the men.
In the post, he wrote the theft had affected not only a locally owned business but also a staff member who had simply been doing her job.
“We were robbed, and we’re absolutely furious,” Mr Labbard titled the post.
“We deserve better, our staff deserve better. Our community deserves better.”
But the post received a mixed response from social media users, who were quick to pile on the business, arguing women should not be working alone at night without security or a male co-worker present.
Mr Labbard said the staff member was taken aback by what had happened but defended the company’s decision to have female employees work alone during shifts.
He said the business had been operating for 11 years across its stores without experiencing an incident of this nature despite having female employees work evening shifts.
“It’s part of a complex. It’s not in a remote desert,” Mr Labbard said.
“It’s never happened before. We’ve had tonnes of female staff members work those types of shifts at all locations with never an issue over 11 years.
“I’m not going to take that right away from a female staff member for her to be able to work at a time where that’s convenient for her. Why would I take that right away from a staff member just because they’re female?”
He also argued having more employees rostered on at the same time would not necessarily have prevented the theft, as staff were trained not to put themselves in danger trying to recover stolen stock.
“Whether it’s a male or female, they’re trained exactly the same,” Mr Labbard said.
“So those guys would walk out with the stock, which is unfortunate because criminals know that.
“I’m not going to change that to put my staff at risk, regardless of what happens.”
Police had been notified, and Mr Labbard said security footage and still images had been provided to investigators.
He urged anyone with information to contact police rather than confronting the men.