48 Hours Store Robbed Again
Just 17 hours after being robbed on Monday the 48 Hours Store was robbed yesterday. Nothing like reading about an armed robbery in the middle of the day, across from a school, not to mention a few blocks from my own house to start a day of right. RTD;
The latest robbery at the 48 Hours store, in the 5000 block of Forest Hill Avenue, occurred at 1:13 yesterday afternoon. No shots were fired and no one was injured.
Richmond police Capt. Paul Kiniry said a black male wearing a black hat, sunglasses and a white T-shirt and blue jeans walked in the store, grabbed a Pepsi from a cooler and went to the front counter, acting as if he wanted to pay for the soda.
When the clerk opened the register, the man produced a handgun and demanded money. The clerk complied and the gunman fled.
Yesterday’s robbery differed from Monday’s holdup, which occurred at 8:58 p.m. when a man walked in with a T-shirt covering his face, confronted the clerk with a handgun and demanded money.
unbelievable
This is sad. At what point are the owners going to realize that covering the windows and obscuring the view into the store harbors thieves?!? If you sit in the parking lot, you can’t even see in the store because they have a broken display case, an empty wall, and a bunch of advertising. Not only tacky, but very unsafe to them and their employees!
Blame the victim?
I can’t see into the CVS down the block, but I’ve never heard of them getting robbed.
Not only tacky, but very unsafe to them and their employees!
AGREED!
As little as my neighborhood supports its local convenience stores (they have their reasons), I don’t think robberies have been an issue. In fact, it sounds like 48 Hours could take a cue from our West End Market’s newly installed transparent facade: http://byrdpark.net/2010/03/18/idlewood-cornerstore-gets-another-facelift/
CVS has been robbed, but 48 Hours is just plain tacky and the inside is totally obscure to anyone passing by. I would think the RPD has advised them on this. Could the Merchants Assoc. put some pressure on them? …Or are they happy to just keep things as they are? I’ll stay out of there for sure!
What the hell does being tacky have to do it? I’m pretty sure potential robbers are not like “This establishment does not meet with my finely-honed and superior aesthetic taste. Therefore, I shall endeavor to relieve them of their earnings.” And the victim blaming is just disgusting.
Sara…thanks for my LOL of the day. Finely honed indeed.
Didn’t mean to blame to victim – just my gut reaction to people wielding guns (mid-day!) in a store where I sometimes take my kids (and didn’t notice the “tacky” part of the statement I agreed with – my bad). The nice people, who often have their young daughter with them, who run the 48 hour store do not deserve this at all. No one does. And large window signage or lack thereof does not guarantee a criminal will overlook you (as the deadly Baskin Robins robbery a few years ago will attest – as that store is almost all wide open windows). However, now that some local criminals have decided that the store is apparently an easy mark, since no one passing by that busy intersection can see what they are doing, it would make sense to lower the window displays to me. I wonder if they have surveillance cameras in the store.
Overall it is just very very sad for the store and for our neighborhood. This will make me think twice before going in there now. It isn’t fair to the owners, but it’s the truth.
#3: I’m in bank security, I have a pretty working understanding of what a safe business should look like. I am not blaming the victim per se, but this will continue to happen if they do not execute some safety best practices. You pointed out that CVS has high windows that you can’t see into, but what CVS does have is a well light parking lot, well lit store, video monitoring and they keep the place pretty clean and tidy. Those simple things usually deter criminal activity. I didn’t say it will eliminate, but it will deter. And the CVS has been robbed before.
The suggestions I made about removing signage, cleaning up the storefront, and allowing visibility into the store will not only make the place alot safer for the employees, but also safer for the customers. AND it won’t cost them much to do those simple things!!! Just compare their shop to other convenience stores in the area. Look at WaWa for example. They do not keep any signage in their windows, nor do they have any product above 3′ in the windows. Next time you’re there, take notice that they even have a taped line at the 3′ mark on the window to tell vendors not to put anything above that line. I’m not here to argue or debate safety, but I think it is in our neighborhood’s best interest to have businesses that are safe venues to shop. ESPECIALLY if there is an elementary school across the street!!!!! I would hate to see one person hurt / killed because someone doesen’t want to clean up their storefront.
And it is unfortunate as I was rather impressed by the 48 Hour’s expansive beer selection when I moved into the neighborhood. But now they are being robbed at gunpoint a time that I could be in there, I will not go there anymore. So, by improving their own store security, they also improve their sales.
They do have security cameras.
I tihnk something shady is going on there. Drugs perhaps?
Page spoke this morning with Lt. O’Kleasky and is going to have a post up later today. Nothing shady going on that the police know about but she did get some tidbits worth sharing.
[...] are alarmed that the 48 hours convenience store at Prince Arthur and Forest Hill Avenue has been robbed twice in just 17 hours. Our sector leader, Lieutenant John O’Kleasky, had good insight into the situation. He echoes [...]
The management’s clever strategy of not publicizing their hours of operation beforehand probably thwarts most would-be robbers.