A vintage clothing and antique store in Edinburgh city centre was raided by thieves who made off with multiple items of jewellery while the owner was dealing with a customer.
Asta Petkunaite, owner of Pascal & Co, on Albert Place, has been left devastated after the 'fake' customer, or customers, took a nine carat gold Aquamarine engagement ring that she had only just sourced from Glasgow a few days previous, and replaced it with another ring in the store.
They also took a citrine ring and a "precious" old silver locket from "right under" Asta's nose, without seeing their face or having CCTV footage of the incident. Asta, who takes pride in sourcing vintage accessories and clothes, said that she feels awful being burgled in a tiny shop, which she only usually allows two or three people in at a time.
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Asta said that she gets to know regular customers by their name and often spends time discussing items within the shop, but this unwelcomed guest "took their opportunity" when her back was turned. She added that the pieces of jewellery were so new that she hadn't even got round to taking pictures of them yet, so she fears that finding them again will be near enough impossible.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live regarding the incident on Wednesday, August 17, Asta said: "I don't know who they were, I usually know every person that comes in as it's quite a tiny shop, I often say to people that three is a crowd in here. I was just talking to a friend and it got a little bit busy, so they must have just taken the opportunity.
"I had just been to an antiques fair in Glasgow to source the items, they were a little bit special. There was a silver locket with an age to it and the gold ring was mid-range. It has three aquamarine stones and it was in a lovely little box. They actually replaced it with a cheap one in the shop after stealing it, which made me notice it was in the wrong place.
"They probably knew what they were doing, It was more of a fly move. Unfortunately I don't know if it was just one person or there were multiple customers, which is annoying. I have had a few incidents like this, one time, a customer informed me that someone had just walked away with one of my dresses.
"I dropped everything, ran down Leith Walk and spotted the person with a can of beer in one hand and my French 1960s cotton dress and then took it back off her, I'm not afraid to go after people because I really hate thieves, which is even more frustrating as I never seen these people at all."
"I usually am quite wary. With the cost of living, Brexit and Covid, it's even more frustrating. I never buy anything in bulk either, each item is sourced individually and a lot of time and effort goes into finding special things. I literally just had a woman who buys silver from me and I said she would have loved the old locket but unfortunately that was stolen as well."
Asta said that she did not report the theft to the police, as so far she doesn't have any footage or knowledge of what they may have looked like if there was more than one. She said she was going to ask her neighbouring shops if they had any idea, but reckoned the items would probably be sold online.
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