$3,000 igloo stolen from Osoyoos coffee shop

Sara van der Hoeven was surprised when she showed up to her coffee shop in Osoyoos and found that someone had stolen one of her igloos.

van der Hoeven owns Junction 3 Coffeehouse and she came to get chairs for a seniors’ Christmas lunch at the local food bank when she realized someone had stolen the cover from one igloo and the frame from another.

“They’re pretty big. They had to have some skills to get them, for sure,” she told iNFOnews.ca. “What they did is they stole the cover off the front igloo, and then they stole the cage of a back igloo so that nobody from the street could see it.”

The igloos cost around $3,600 each and are roughly 12 feet in diameter.

“If your neighbour has a brand new igloo. Maybe just send me a private message,” she said.

Someone took the igloos last night, Dec. 16. There isn’t any security footage, but van der Hoeven contacted the RCMP.

“They’re gonna do their best,” she said. “A lot of them come to my shop for coffee. So I’m lucky to have that relationship with them.”

She said this is the first time she’s ever had an issue with theft.

“I put up a big Christmas display every year, and I leave my chairs out, and I’ve never had any kind of problem ever,” van der Hoeven said.

She got the igloos during the COVID-19 pandemic because of social distancing, but her customers have really enjoyed the experience of sipping coffee in their own little bubble, especially after meeting with Santa.

“We host all of the families for Santa Claus. So when the families come, they get 15 minutes with Santa Claus, and then they’ll all go have hot chocolate and spend family time in the igloos,” she said.

Police told van der Hoeven they’re going to search for it and she hopes someone knows something that might help bring the igloo home.

“When you take things like that, it’s not that you’re just taking from a business, you’re taking from a community,” she said. “A lot of seniors and people that maybe don’t get out as often as they could that enjoy those experiences. So you steal the experience from someone.”

The RCMP didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.