Injured shopkeeper feeling the love

[attach]3779[/attach]The wife of a Logan Avenue convenience store owner is thanking the Riverdale community for their overwhelming support after a vicious nighttime robbery left her husband in hospital with stab wounds.

Juliet Kim, who runs Luke’s Grocery and Variety at 635 Logan Ave. with her husband Paul, said the neighbourhood residents, including local councillor Paula Fletcher, have been showing support ever since February’s brazen robbery.

Police say on the evening of Feb. 24, the 48-year-old proprietor was in the store when two men armed with a knife entered the store and demanded cash. Paul attempted to fight back and received numerous stab wounds. According to police, the assailants fled in a car that had earlier been reported as stolen. It was found empty nearby not too long after the robbery.

Meanwhile, Paul had been taken to hospital for treatment. He has since been released, and is recovering at home.

[attach]3780[/attach]Juliet said since the incident, people have offered to stay with her in the store in the evening. Community members wishing Paul a speedy recovery have signed a poster affixed to the store’s front door.

“They are so nice and kind,” Juliet said over the phone from the store. “It was unexpected for sure, they’ve given me lots of courage.

“They come in to the store and cry with me, they’ve done lots of things,” she added.

[attach]3781[/attach]Originally from Korea, the Kims will have been in Canada for 10 years as of next month.They will soon mark three years that they’ve had their business. But those three years have been marred with robberies.

According to police reports, Kim’s store has been victim to armed robberies four times in less than two years.

The store was first robbed back in 2009. Luke’s was then robbed on Sept. 9 last year, and once again on Jan. 15.

While it might seem like an unusually high number of robberies for one store, Detective Sergeant Shawn Getty with hold-up squad says that’s not actually the case.

“Unfortunately, there are certain locations in the city that seem to be robbed continuously,” he said. “Bad guys pick certain spots, we have certain variety stores all over the city being robbed over and over.”

Getty said it’s unfortunate that people like the Kims work hard only to have thugs come in and take their hard-earned money.

“(Paul)’s a nice gentleman, he’s just trying to run a small business,” Getty said.

Police have not yet made any arrests in the Feb. 24 incident, but are actively investigating.

So with three robberies in less than six months, one would think that Juliet might consider closing up that business and moving on. But she gave a defiant “no” when asked if that was a consideration.

“Life keeps going on, so what can you do — you have to work.”