Breadcrumb Trail Links
What a welcome to the neighbourhood.
Publishing date:
Mar 03, 2022 • 3 hours ago • 1 minute read • 5 Comments 
City Lights Bookshop on Richmond Street. Mike Hensen/The London Free Press
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What a welcome to the neighbourhood.
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The new owner of City Lights Bookshop arrived at the store Feb. 24 to find it had been, in the words of an employee, “jacked.”
Stolen was $1,200 in cash, about $200 worth of comic books and a security camera. A computer was also damaged during the break-in.
“They attempted to take the iMac computer, which was chained to (a) desk,” Dan Harvey said. “So they left the iMac . . . a little bit smashed.,
Harvey took over as owner, along with his wife and business partner, of the Richmond Street fixture at the beginning of December. The last time the venerable store was robbed was in 1993, the former co-owners say.
He figures the thief or thieves got in through the back door. London police, including a forensics officer, came by to examine the scene, Harvey said.
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Daniel Harvey sits among the inventory at City Lights Bookshop in London on Tuesday Nov. 2, 2021. (Derek Ruttan/The London Free Press)
The comic books were in a box near the desk. “I honestly have no idea (why they made off with the comics),” Harvey said. “Maybe they were just genuinely interested in comics and wanted to take them home and read them.”
He adds comics and graphic novels are the “main target” at City Lights for thieves. A couple weeks ago the new-to-downtown business owner stopped a shoplifter, who had stuffed his clothes with graphic novels, from leaving the store.
Southwestern Ontario has been targeted for several months by thieves seeking geek goods such as Magic: The Gathering trading cards.
Harvey had four other security cameras in the quirky store besides the one that was taken.
Asked if he has learned any lessons, Harvey said he is speaking with security firms. “I’m going full cameras everywhere,” he said.
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https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/rude-welcome-new-owner-of-city-lights-loses-cash-comics-in-break-in
