BURGLARS broke into a Whitchurch furniture store in a crime apparently targeting Yankee Candles.
John McCarthy, owner of Cardiff Bed & Furniture Centre on Merthyr Road, found a smashed side window and empty shelves when he opened the store at 8.45am last Wednesday.
Mr McCarthy estimated between £3,000 and £4,000 worth of the popular scented candles had been taken from six displays since he locked up on Tuesday evening.
He believes the thieves ripped a council bin from a post to transport the candles. The bin had recently come loose from the post just outside his shop and was taped up but now it has disappeared.
The businessman says a lack of CCTV in the area has contributed to a spate of burglaries in Whitchurch Village over recent months.
He said the MP for Cardiff North, Craig Williams, had told him he would discuss the possibility of installing CCTV cameras on Merthyr Road with senior police officers.
Mr McCarthy would welcome more CCTV in the area: “I embrace it. I’m all for it. We now live in a society where if people can’t afford it, they steal it.”
Sales have suffered since the burglary. “The burglars took medium and large candles, which are what people want to buy. I was so fed up of customers looking at my displays and commenting on the limited stock now I had to put up a sign.”
Mr McCarthy took over the business in 2009 after 40 years in the furniture trade.
Police are investigating and have dusted for fingerprints.
