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A rash of break-ins has a Kamloops business owner speaking out about the difficulty operating stores among the current crime climate — but he is optimistic the situation will improve.

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Businesses along the arterial route downtown were hit three times in three nights last week, one of which was the Tim Hortons location, whose owner, Riley Stoppler, has reported multiple locations of his franchise broken into recently.

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“It is the price of doing business nowadays, but it’s getting a little old,” Stoppler told KTW. “I’m really good at putting in plywood in broken windows where somebody smashes and grabs a coin box, but it’s getting a little bit more sophisticated than just that.”

On May 24, burglars entered Stoppler’s Lansdowne Street Tim Hortons through the drive-thru window. He said “random things” were stolen, such as cash tills that had little currency in them, headsets and a drive-thru timer.

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“It’s worth nothing to them, but a lot to me,” Stoppler said of the timer. “I’d have given them money just to have that stuff back.”

Stoppler estimated the cost to replace the stolen equipment will be up to $8,000.

He said the break-in occurred between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m., noting the burglary set off the building’s alarm system.

He said he heard of two other neighbouring stores that were broken into days earlier — the Telus store and the Great Canadian Oil Change.

Kamloops RCMP Cpl. Crystal Evelyn confirmed police responded to three break-ins that occurred in the blocks where those stores are located, but due to privacy concerns, said police could not specify locations or addresses, which are, in these cases, the businesses.

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While police will not divulge addresses, block numbers are easy to match to the businesses that were burglarized. From those pairings, suspect identification can be matched to the break-in locations.

On May 23 at about 3 a.m., a burglary occurred at the Great Canadian Oil Change. A suspect was wearing a light-coloured, long-sleeved shirt, dark shorts and a black ball cap.

On May 22, a burglary took place at the Telus store, where phones and an iPad were stolen.

Anyone with information related to these incidents is asked to call Kamloops RCMP at 250-828-3000.

Stoppler said his Brocklehurst Tim Hortons outlet in the Brock Shopping Centre at Tranquille Road and Desmond Street was burglarized on May 9 at just before 2 a.m. Masked men smashed open a side door to the restaurant, then kicked in a door to an office, from which they stole laptops, banking information, a briefcase and cash, among other items. Stoppler estimated about $8,000 of stolen property in that incident.

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Stoppler said there was also an attempted break-in at his Tim Hortons franchise in North Kamloops, at Eighth Street and York Avenue. In that April crime, security footage appeared to show a person attempting to shoot a fire extinguisher through the drive-thru window to smoke out the cameras and force the window open, but the burglary attempt was unsuccessful.

In 2021, Stoppler closed the Tim Hortons franchise he owned in the 400-block of Tranquille Road in North Kamloops due to crime and nuisance activity plaguing operations. He told KTW that location was his most problematic, but that title now belongs to his Lansdowne outlet.

However, Stoppler said he is not considering closing any more of his Kamloops franchises.

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Stoppler noted he is not the only business owner dealing with these issues, which occur all over the city.

“Something needs to be changed. I don’t know what that is, but here’s hoping we’re at the cusp where everything starts to get better from here on out,” he said.

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