Leather purse maker Maxine Young was robbed of the prototype purse that led to the start of the business
A Vancouver leather goods atelier is pleading for help after a thief broke into her studio, stealing more than a thousand dollars worth of handcrafted bags.
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Last Sunday around 9:30 a.m., a man broke into Maxine Young’s Gastown workspace, Mameyo Goods, while the small business owner was at a market selling her hand-made accessories.
“Yesterday was my last market of the year, and to come back to a broken-in studio was heartbreaking,” Young posted in an emotional plea shared on social media Tuesday.
“This is a huge hit to my small business, not only financially, but also I’ve lost security in one of my favourite places to be.”
Surveillance footage shows the thief taking several handbags valued at approximately $1,500. But one in particular — the very first bag Young ever made — cannot be replaced.
Young is appealing to the public for help in recovering The Penny bucket bag, which she describes not just as a product, but as the prototype that sparked the creation of her small business.
“It is the very first bag that I made, and it’s the one that started off the whole business,” said Young, who designs and handcrafts each bag in her Gastown workshop from leather sourced as a by-product of the meat industry.
“This is the one that I want back.”
While the Vancouver Police Department confirmed Thursday that it is investigating the Dec. 8 break-in, no arrests have been made, Sgt. Tania Visintin said in an email.
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Since sharing her story on social media, Young said she has been overwhelmed with support, but has received no leads about the thief’s identity.
She is, however, warning people not to approach him.
Walley Wargolet, president of the Gastown Business Improvement Association, said break-ins and thefts have long been a concern for local businesses, as thieves increasingly target the historic neighbourhood with troubling frequency.
Vancouver’s Central Business District, including Gastown, has the highest rate of thefts, break-ins, and weapon-related crimes in the city, according to the latest crime data.
In October, the downtown district reported three times as many robberies (423) as Vancouver’s other neighbourhoods. According to Vancouver police crime map data, there were 27 break-ins reported at businesses just in the past four weeks.
“We know one particular case in the neighbourhood where the suspect has 90 individual arrests of shoplifting and is still out on the street,” said Wargolet.
However, the business representative said he believes the solution does not solely lie in increasing police presence in the neighbourhood.
“Focusing solely on putting more police on the street is not going to fix the problem,” said Wargolet. “Many of the people committing these crimes are in real need of mental health and addiction support.”
In September, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim promised to tackle Gastown’s problem of violent robberies linked to repeat shoplifters by establishing a community policing centre in the neighbourhood.
“These plans are progressing,” said Wargolet, noting that the Gastown Business Improvement Association has a meeting with police and city officials next week.