In the aftermath of WWI, 20-year-old Josef Jakicevich hopped off a boat from the battle-scarred Balkans with no more than a handful of change and a headful of dreams.
Four generations on, Josef would be in a state of total disbelief that children in a stolen car could have just driven through the front doors of that hard-won business on Jervois Road, causing, yet again, tens of thousands of dollars-worth of damage for a few hundred dollars-worth of alcoholic booty.
Glengarry is now at 42 ram raids (across its 14 Auckland sites) and counting, with an overall cost up around $250,000. Add to that the ongoing trauma to staff and family and you can see we might be well over it all.
With the cost of each ram raid spiralling into the tens of thousands and insurance premiums mounting, not to mention the loss of income while everything is put back together, we have had to seek out advice, install bollards, barrels full of sand, security grills, film on the windows, upgraded cameras, alarm systems - you name it, we’ve done it, in an attempt to stem this horrendous tide.
While this out-of-control social situation is no easy fix, we do pay our taxes, and yet because we have more than one store, we are ineligible for any government assistance. Conclusion? This is an unsustainable situation that is devastating so many businesses. New Zealand cannot endure it. Something has to change. Words won’t fix it.
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