Fort St. John business suffers $2K theft as owner calls out ‘frustrating’ shoplifting

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A local business owner is speaking out against shoplifting following two incidents in three months at his shop.

Snehal Mistry has owned Merwin Optical since 2021. Originally from India, he told Energeticcity.ca his family still owns a pair of eyeglasses stores in the South Asian country.

He has been in Fort St. John since 2011 and worked as an optician at Merwin for the past 13 years.

“Every now and then we find somebody in [the security] cameras,” said Mistry. “When they leave, we have a doubt. We feel that they stole something, they put it in their bag. We check the cameras and yes, [they did].”

However, he says a shoplifting incident occurred on Monday, February 2nd that Mistry says can’t be ignored. 

In his own words, a man walked into the shop looking at sunglasses. Mistry said the individual was looking at pairs of Oakley sunglasses “for about 20 minutes.”

Mistry says he left the man with staff, leaving the shop at 9920 101st Avenue to attend to his children. 

In a video seen by Energeticcity.ca, the man scooped up an undetermined number of pairs of sunglasses before calmly walking out the door.

Mistry said the staff told him the man muttered, “it’s not worth it” before exiting.

“[He] meant there’s nothing that’s going to happen, so don’t do anything,” said Mistry. “He literally had it all the time in his mind to do that.”

Mistry estimated the man left with between eight and 10 pairs worth approximately $2,000 in total.

He also said another incident occurred back in November, in which alleged stolen credit cards were used three different times for purchases.

Usually, in cases of fraud, the processing company issues a release to the company – except it was during last November’s Canada Post strike.

“If a stolen card is used, you get a letter from the processing company saying that you need to give all the details, because there was fraud,” said Mistry. “We didn’t get a chance to reply because we never knew until later.”

The amount for the incident totalled $3,500 – which the processing company took directly from Mistry. He calls the entire situation “frustrating.” 

“It’s absolutely frustrating. I thought everyone should know about this,” said Mistry. “They are trying to revitalize downtown. But [there are] …people luring around when we have actual customers.”

Energeticcity.ca contacted Fort St. John RCMP about the most recent incident. In a statement, the detachment said it has conducted an investigation into the theft.

However, the file has been closed due to insufficient evidence in identifying the suspect. Media relations officer Constable Christiaan Dreyer says “the case may be reopened” if further details emerge.

Anyone with information about shoplifting is asked to contact the Fort St. John RCMP at 250-787-8100.