Two brazen thefts in two weeks have given a Portage Avenue wine shop a $20,000 hangover.
Kate and Scott Holden, who have owned and operated The Pourium, formerly De Luca Fine Wines, at 942 Portage Ave for nearly 18 years, say they’ve never seen anything like it.
The incidents, on Sept. 14 and the Labour Day weekend, were caught on security footage. It showed thieves packing shopping baskets with dozens of bottles of the most expensive wines they could grab.
“They go shopping in here, they break in, and they’re picking up bottles and going, ‘No, I guess I don’t like the sauvignon blanc from California, I’m more of a red person,’ and they put it down and start picking up other stuff,” Scott Holden said Wednesday.
“That’s where we’re at now.”
The damage to glass windows and the value of the wine that was stolen will cost the Holdens as much as $20,000. So far this year, they’ve had seven break-ins that have forced them to spend $50,000 on repairs and inventory.
They were quoted a cost of $30,000 to install metal shutters over the store’s windows.
Controlled entrances, which were installed in Manitoba Liquor Marts in 2020 to deter widespread theft, aren’t feasible for a small local business.
“First of all, it’s too expensive, and second of all, that’s kind of been our distinction, that we aren’t that,” he said.
“I’ve always said going into the (Liquor Mart) now is kind of like going into jail. I understand why they’ve done it, but that’s what it feels like.”
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Scott Holden, co-owner of The Pourium, said thieves acted like they were shopping, picking and choosing bottles to steal.
Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries said the number of incidents in its stores reached a high of 15,557 thefts and 226 robberies from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020.
After the controlled entrances were put in place, that dropped to 1,212 thefts and 12 robberies in the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2024.
When the Holdens took over the wine store, it was rare to get one break-in a year. Holden said it’s impossible not to see the connection between heightened security at Liquor Marts and the rise in thefts at independent vendors.
“It’s tough as an independent liquor vendor in the city to start pointing fingers, but let’s be honest, of course, that’s part of what’s happened here,” he said.
“These people that were stealing didn’t just decide, we’re not going to steal anymore.”
At Calabria Market and Wine Store, manager Tammy Mignacca said the number of wine thefts has increased in the past year.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Controlled entrances aren’t an option for the small business, co-owner Scott Holden said.
While they’ve had their windows smashed in the past, they’ve caught people stealing while the store is open, she said.
“When the store gets busy, it is a little bit harder to tell if they’ve walked out with something. We try to keep an eye on people, but sometimes they’ll just put it under their coat or slide it into a bag,” she said.
Controlled entrances aren’t an option, so they’ve changed the way their staff operate to deter people from coming in.
“We do watch people,” she said. “We always have people on the floor, now, actually, asking people if they need a hand, less likely to take something if you acknowledge that they’re in the store.”
Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries, a Crown corporation whose profits fund government programs such as health care and education, has taken an “extremely unusual” step to clamp down on theft, said John Graham of the Retail Council of Canada.
“It’s been very effective, and it’s certainly a decision they made to ensure the safety of their employees, and every business has to make that decision to sacrifice customer service or access for safety and security,” he said. “We are of the opinion that it’s likely had an impact of moving those that have criminal intent to other retail stores as a result.”
Graham said the council advises owners of small and mid-size businesses about more affordable crime prevention tactics. They include installing inventory shelves at a height where staff can see more of the store, removing bushes and bins to keep building exteriors visible, and making sure cameras are prominent so customers and potential thieves know they are being observed.
“It’s really that difficult balance of securing your stores, but not having that as a perceived barrier to the shopping experience.”
malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca
Malak Abas
Reporter
Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.
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