Even though Steven Johns’ Nanaimo home decor business was broken into twice in one night he’s not letting it get him down. Johns is reopening the Red Shelf today with a positive attitude despite ongoing issues in the city’s core.
The problems plaguing the city have prompted residents who are fearful and unhappy about the situation to organize an anti-crime rally, downtown on Jan. 28.
The silver lining for Johns following the break-ins has been community support. “It is amazing,” he said Tuesday.
All the kindness that has come his way, has “kind of made it all seem a little less dramatic.”
Strangers offered to help clean up his store. Fellow businesses rushed service to restore what had been damaged at Unit C, 123 Commercial St.
Johns is looking forward to getting on with business and is staging a sale.
And he is investing in additional security protection.
The first incident took place in the evening of Jan. 1, RCMP said.
After being called by police, Johns lined up a contractor to board up broken front windows and a friend helped clean up the store.
“They used a sledge hammer as far as I can tell,” he said. “It was pretty big breakage — they are pretty big windows.”
A couple of bronzes and other items were taken, he said.
Johns went home and had only a half-hour of sleep before being awakened again by police, calling about 3: 30 a.m. on Jan. 2.
This time, the front door was smashed and someone had entered the store and taken costume jewelry.
He called the contractor again and reminded himself that things could have been worse.
Johns acknowledged that Nanaimo has problems, including addictions and drug use. But he said: “I think every city does and I think it is how the businesses handle it in Nanaimo is really great. We all band together and we are all trying to work on making it better and better.”
Johns, a second-generation antique dealer, opened in Nanaimo four years ago and said the business is doing well. He sells vintage, antique and unique home decor items and furniture.
Nanaimo’s provisional budget for this year is allocating money towards public safety, including continuing funding for community safety officers and teams to clean up the core.
It hopes to hire three more RCMP officers this year plus more civilian staff.
No one has been arrested for the break-ins at the Red Shelf but RCMP Const. Gary O’Brien said another nearby business also had a rock thrown through its window that night.
“It’s got all the trademarks of somebody with significant mental-health issues — just deciding to take it out on that business for unknown reasons.”
O’Brien suggests businesses install alarms if they haven’t done so already and consider putting in metal grates to create a preventative barrier over doors and windows. “A lot of businesses are going that route now,” he said.
Uniformed community safety officers are having a positive impact on downtown and are reassuring to people living and working in the core, O’Brien said. The RCMP’s bike patrol has a stronger presence.
The days of just moving people along are gone in favour of a more proactive approach to find out if someone on the street needs help and what services can be provided, he said.
But Block Watch members and neighbourhood associations, who have organized the rally on Jan. 28 at 11 a.m. outside the Country Club mall, want more action against violence and crime. Local Block Watch captain and neighbourhood volunteer Karen Kuwica said people are afraid for themselves and others, and are worried about the frequency and intensity of crime in the city.
“Concern is growing,” said Kuwica, who will emcee the rally.
She wants to see more efforts made by all levels of government to tackle concerns about public safety and the need for health supports.
In September, a smiliar rally was held outside Nanaimo’s courthouse, where participants held signs calling on judges to be tougher. Protesters said they were afraid to go out and were fed-up.
That rally came after the death of Fred Parsons, 29, who was stabbed in Maffeo Sutton Park a few days earlier.
