The Realm of Toys was targeted by potential thieves or vandals for the third time in three weeks Monday, April 17.
Co-owner Joan Douillard said the store on First Avenue was closed for the Easter holiday but at 6:30 p.m. they received a call from their security company A-Tech Alarms that someone had tried to break through the same window that had been broken a week earlier and was awaiting repairs.
She said she and her daughter Jazmyn arrived at the store soon after receiving the call along with police to find glass everywhere and the window so badly damaged now that it needed to be boarded up.
Soon after they arrived on scene helpers from WL Forestry Supplies/Napa Auto Parts and Western Wood Heat came to help them board up the window.
She said they have security cameras and alarms, so the potential thieves are not able to get into the building easily. She said they don’t keep any money on the premises and are beginning to wonder if they are being targeted by vandals for some reason other than the potential for theft.
“We put it up on Facebook and before we knew it people were coming to help,” Joan said. “This is a town of very good, hard working people. One of our wonderful regulars even set up a GoFundMe account to help us cover some of the repair costs and have security bars installed. We were reluctant at first to accept the help, but they’ve raised $850 in less than 24 hours and we couldn’t be more grateful.”
She said one woman she didn’t know came in with some cookies for them and tears in her eyes.
While the store was closed for the long weekend, the Douillards opened the store Saturday afternoon to provide an in-store Easter egg hunt for children.
“Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves,” Joan said. “It was a lot of fun.”
She said people were lined up down the block when they opened and 300 children went home with candy and each of them was accompanied by two or three adults.
She said they experienced a little bit of theft during the event from parents using their children’s Easter baskets to hide toys but overall everything went very well.
