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Penticton  

Owner of Penticton salon deals with third break-in

Salon broken into yet again

A salon in Penticton was smashed and stolen from, yet again. But this time what the thieves took has the owner and cops scratching their heads. 

Rhonda Erhardt, who owns Flhair salon, has been in the same location for 18 years and has been broken into three times. 

“One was two years ago, but the last nine years there's been three break-ins,” she said.  

“The worst part was having the cops bang on my doors at home at 5:30 in the morning.” 

The soft knock turned into a louder knock, then an aggressive knock with ringing the doorbell.

“I get up because obviously there's something wrong. So to get up and to see the police standing there and just in your brain it goes, ‘Is somebody hurt...what could be wrong?” Erhardt said. 

The cops asked her to come down to her shop, telling her there's been a break-in. The last two times the break-ins were through the back door and the shop was completely destroyed. 

“You don't know what you're walking into...I've never had to deal with the glass before so that was a big mess. Thankfully they could've done a lot worse.. it was just the front door and what they took was really minimal.” 

A nail light to cure gels nails, a candle that was half burned down and some tubes of colour were stolen. 

“The cops are kind of scratching their heads like what was the point even?” 

She was surprised that the thieves didn't take the electronics that were sitting out or anything more valuable. The last time she was robbed, all of her scissors—which can cost around $500—were taken along with cash, and a lot more damage was done to the shop.

"I wouldn't have known that there was a break-in except that front door was smashed in," Erhardt said. “I don't think I feel less safe, I just don't think the people are even thinking when they're doing it.”

While Erhardt doesn't know what the solution is, she'd like to see something like a neighbourhood watch created and more owners coming forward in the community that have been broken into.

“I think it's probably happening a lot more now... and maybe we just need to have it out there in the media more so people realize how big of a problem it is." 

According to Erhardt, the glass repairman told her that the company is billing out $30,000 a month in repairs and replacement for properties affected by vandalism and break-ins. 

Erhardt was able to get everything fixed that morning and continue to keep her salon running. 



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