Quinte Mall hit by major break-in

By Meagan Leonard

Like a scene straight out of Paul Blart: Mall Cop, the Quinte Mall was taken from the top down in the largest-scale break-in area police have seen in a while.
On the morning of Nov. 16, Belleville police were called to Shoppers Drug Mart and Sterling Shoes in the Quinte Mall after opening staff discovered the businesses had been broken into through the night and an estimated $15,000 dollars worth of merchandise had been stolen from Shoppers.
Thieves entered the stores by cutting holes in the roof. While nothing was taken from Sterling’s, $2,000 in damage was done to the store’s ceiling. Shoppers Drug Mart’s entire perfume/cologne shelves were emptied, as suspects carried off high-end brands such as Chanel, Givenchy and Este Lauder. Designer watches and sunglasses by Tommy Hilfiger, Fossil, Marc Jacobs and Armani Exchange were also lifted.
Authorizing supervisor for Belleville police Sgt. Julie Forestell said while the break-in wasn’t a surprise, it was definitely something they didn’t anticipate.
“There hasn’t been anything of this scale recently at the Quinte Mall,” she said.
Forestell commented that though they do see a rise in shoplifting during the holiday season, she does not believe this was an act of financial desperation.
“I wouldn’t say this is a seasonal type of break and enter,” Forestell said. “But I can tell you with the pressures of Christmas gift buying there is usually an increase in shoplifting. In this case, that would have been one expensive Christmas.”
Veronica Sutherland, a manager at Sterling Shoes, wasn’t there when the break-in was discovered but she was alerted right away about the incident.
“I got a call at 9 o’clock from the assistant manager (that morning) saying there was drywall on the floor and the light fixture was pulled right out of the ceiling,” she said.
Since no items were stolen from Sterling’s, Sutherland believes the suspects never intended their store as a target.
“They came in through the roof, I’m not sure how,” she said. “But they just peeked in to see where they were and moved right on to Shoppers. They knew what they wanted.”
Sutherland has been working at the mall for two years, and this is the first break-in she’s heard of during that time. While the event caught her off-guard, she still feels safe at her job.
“It was kind of crazy and creepy that someone had the nerve to vandalize my store, but I still feel safe,” she said.
The roof has been temporarily repaired from the outside, but interior work will still need to be done, says Sutherland. Until then, along with all the other employees at the Quinte Mall — she will be preparing for the influx of holiday shoppers.
“I love the holiday shopping. Shoppers are usually pretty good and friendly and it stays busy so time goes by pretty quickly,” said Sutherland.
Shoppers Drug Mart was unavailable for comment at press time.