The little vegetable and egg stand on River Road where customers get their groceries on the honour system, was burgled again on Saturday night (Sept. 21) with culprits escaping with about $500.
But they also took the computer hard drive that logged all the security camera footage at Keith’s Market.
“I hate to say it, but I think it’s somebody local,” said Keith Bogart, 80, who’s been running the current store for about eight years and several years previously in another location. Bogart said that somebody knew exactly where the computer cabinet was, broke it open and took off with the incriminating evidence.
“The guy, whoever stole this, it wasn’t his first time,” he added.
And the culprit took cash only, no food.
Bogart sells eggs from Chilliwack and local veggies, some of which he grows on the property he leases and some of which comes from other surrounding farms. However, he says he is going to cut back and only grow garlic and rhubarb next year.
Some hours of the day, the little store is staffed but other times it’s unstaffed and is open on the honour system with customers recording their purchases in a book and leaving their money.
The eggs are a major part of the business, with Bogart selling 750 dozen a week.
The latest theft is only one of about 15 burglaries he’s dealt with over the years.
He says he’ll no longer be leaving small amounts of cash out for change purposes.
But he doesn’t plan on quitting either saying there would be an uprising if he did that.
“It’ll take more than that to shut me down,” he said. “I enjoy meeting the people and talking to them.”
Plus he’s got nothing else to do, he said, adding that he’ll keep running the store until he’s no longer able.
“When they find me on the ground out here, or I’m crippled to the point where I can’t be here for some reason,” his family will shut down the store. “They’ll shut it down for sure.”
An online fundraiser has been organized by local resident Derek Haugen to help Bogart recover.
“Keith doesn’t deserve this for all the things he helps the locals out with. Let’s get Keith back on track by helping out with a good security system and maybe some extra to cover the financial losses and his time,” Haugen said on gofundme.com.
