Does this mean our dear surf industry is back?
Ain’t life grand? One minute you think your entire business is contracting, vultures circling, being pronounced dead because Amazon killed the surf shop star. The next you are so valuable that thieves are willing to smash their SUV straight through your doors in order to steal GoPros and Billabong bikinis.
You’re back on top!
And how thrilled would you be to be BACK! Let’s read The Maui News!
Carpet stained with tire tracks from a burglary had been replaced before Hi-Tech Surf Sports in Kahului was hit again early Thursday when a sport utility vehicle smashed through glass and knocked a door off its hinges.
GoPro cameras, accessories and drones were taken from cases and 30 women’s swimsuits were stolen in the break-in at 4:42 a.m. at the store at 425 Koloa St., said Kim Ball, president of Hi-Tech Surf Sports.
He said employees were still calculating the loss, which included more than $10,000 in merchandise as well as the damage to the store.
“We have to rebuild the store front,” Ball said. “It’s just pretty discouraging. It’s really disappointing. But in the whole scope of things, nobody died or anything.
“It seems like the burglars target the local businesses.”
Police officers responded to the 5:03 a.m. alarm call to find the door to the store had been rammed in by a vehicle that had fled, said Capt. Ricky Uedoi, commander of the Wailuku Patrol District.
He said police were still investigating. He encouraged anyone who saw something suspicious in the area or who has information about the burglary or suspects to call police at 244-6400.
Ball said store surveillance video shows a sport utility vehicle backing into the store through the rental side entrance, breaking glass and knocking the door off its hinges. Two men with their faces covered entered the store, while someone else is seen driving the vehicle, Ball said.
He said the burglars used a crowbar to break into cases, stealing GoPro cameras and accessories from one case and two GoPro drones from another case.
Ball said he believes Hi-Tech is the only store on Maui selling GoPro drones. If anyone is offered the drones for sale, “they might want to think before purchasing stolen items,” Ball said.
He said video also shows the burglars stealing 30 women’s swimsuits.
“They were in and out in two minutes,” he said.
The burglars had taken a surfboard but left it outside the store, Ball said.
Etc. Etc.
The same surf shop had been hit some nine years earlier too which tells me one thing.
Go GoPro! Go Billabong! Go surf shops! Our stock is on the rise!
Also, which surfboard do you think was stolen but left outside the store? Do you think it might have been a Slater Designs Sci Fi?
