PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Airedale Computers, the independent PC retailer that gives its profit and some products to charity, has been burgled.
The shop was broken into and laptops worth almost £1,000 were stolen, but the business will suffer greater costs in building damages.
Airedale’s development manager Keith Sorrell said someone close to Airedale knows who the perpetrator is, but the thief has threatened them and their family not to say anything.
"We do all this for charity, and one of the local people robbed us," Sorrell told PCR. "We just covered the damages out of our own pocket. They damaged the walls, the back door and the shutters, and nicked a bunch of laptops.
“It’s just thieves wanting to make some quick money.”
Keith says the thief is driving around the area with the laptops in the boot of their car, with the price stickers still on them.
It’s not been a kind few months for Airedale. The firm’s website was hacked two months ago, and Airedale had to format it and put it live again.
It’s also the second time the retailer has been burgled. A few years ago, robbers picked away at the mortar between the store’s bricks, accessed the lintel, got the shutters off and then put a brick through the window.
"We have a problem in Pontefract too," Keith explained. "There are roof runners there, as there’s a lot of joined on shops and they have free access on Pontefract rooftops. Burglars recently went into one of the banks through the roof, but they’ve not hit our Pontefract store yet."
Airedale was recently named as one of the finalists at the 2016 PCR Awards Independent Retailer award, which was won by Sweethaven Computers.
You can check out PCR’s recent Retailer of the Month article featuring Airedale here.
