West Kelowna Apple store closed after ‘significant’ break-in, theft

A West Kelowna Apple reseller store is temporarily closed after a major break and enter on the weekend.

Gord McOrmond, owner of Simply Computing stores in Kelowna, Kamloops and throughout B.C. says the store will remain closed at least until it can be secured.

"We are not sure yet what we are doing," he said Monday.

Thieves broke into the store early Sunday morning and made off with almost the entire store stock before anyone could respond.

He wouldn't give a damage estimate but said it was "a significant amount of product"—largely iPads, MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs. Until it is restored and secured, customers are encouraged to shop at the Kelowna location at 2189 Springfield Road for sales and service.

"It is very discouraging right before Christmas to get all the stock cleaned out,"

While the Kelowna store has operated for decades, the West Kelowna location on Elk Road by Andre's Electronics has only been open for a little more than a year. He said it was the second attempted break-in in the past two weeks.

He was reluctant to speak to reporters because he has seen copycat break-ins in the past.

He warns shoppers to be wary of 'screaming deals' on the Internet. They crop up all the time on kijiji, craigslist and castanet and you have to wonder why someone would sell new unopened machines at cut rate prices. He says serial numbers are recorded and controlled by Apple.

"We get a lot of people who have bought those computers before," he said. "We run a serial number check and find them stolen and people lose their computers."