Non-profit store’s door vandalised

Variety Handworks treasurer Jenny Wanrooy is unimpressed after a pane of glass in the store’s door was broken yesterday. PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSH
Variety Handworks treasurer Jenny Wanrooy is unimpressed after a pane of glass in the store’s door was broken yesterday. PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSH
A Dunedin non-profit store has been hit by vandalism, which staff members say will cost it money that would otherwise have been given to charity.

Variety Handworks, in Princes St, was allegedly targeted by a man who kicked in a pane of glass in the door about 7.30am yesterday.

The door frame was damaged.

The shop is run by a co-operative which gives all its profits to charity. It is owned by Moray Place Investments.

It was the third time a window had been broken there, volunteer Shirley Clarkson said.

A larger storefront window had been broken twice previously.

The incident was annoying, given the nature of the store, she said.

‘‘Any profit we make, we give to charities.

‘‘We can't give anything to charity if we're going to have to keep giving money for insurance excesses and things like that all the time.''

The property was insured with an excess of $500.

The money for repairs would come from an operating fund, she said.

‘‘The less we have in that, the less we have to give to worthy charities.''Everything in the store was made locally, she said.

Variety Handworks was open for business as usual yesterday.

Police said a 36-year-old Dunedin man was apprehended after a call from a member of the public who claimed to have seen the incident.

The man was charged with wilful damage and is due to appear in the Dunedin District Court on April 19.

The man suffered from mental illness, police said.

The incident follows another on Sunday morning, when the outdoor seating area of Dunedin restaurant Alley Cantina was ransacked and almost $1000 damage was done.

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