“These are goods we’ve been collecting for years, from different corners of the globe, from small artisan makers. Things that can never get replaced. Years of collecting.”
An international bazaar celebrating 20 years in the Ottawa Valley is reeling after thieves made off with about $90,000 in jewelry.
Anneka Bakker is the owner of One World Bazaar, a Manotick store open for just a few weeks of the year, selling hand-made items from artisans around the world.
In the middle of the busy season for 2024, on Sept. 29, the business was hit with a devastating blow when a pair of thieves ransacked its jewelry room.
That room is stocked with costume jewelry and higher-end gemstones, and the thieves targeted the pricier items, Bakker said Thursday, dumping entire displays into bags.
“These are goods we’ve been collecting for years, from different corners of the globe, from small artisan makers,” she said. “Things that can never get replaced. Years of collecting.”
The theft appeared to be the work of sophisticated criminals, she said, who were in and out of the store within about 90 seconds and spray-painted over security cameras.
“They probably came on the day we were open and cased the space. They knew exactly where to go and how to breach,” she said, adding the robbery left the store’s team “feeling violated.”
Once the initial shock wore off, a question remained: “What the heck are we going to do?”
One World Bazaar stocks everything from ceramics, clothing, furniture, home decor, carpets to blankets and more, including a 100-year-old door from the Jodhpur region in India selling for $3,400. The pop-up-style store is only open for nine weekends a year, so “things need to work like clockwork in many ways,” Bakker said.
Evening Update
Since many of the goods are sourced from Bakker and her family’s trips around the world, they can’t be restocked on a short notice.
“We are such a short, seasonal business, and all of these goods come from overseas. It’s not like we can get them here super-quick,” she said.
Bakker said her uncle started the business in Seeley’s Bay, near Kingston, 43 years ago. He was an enthusiastic traveller who brought back goods from his world trips, aiming to connect buyers directly to international makers.
Bakker’s parents bought the business decades later and moved it to where it stands today in a converted cattle barn in Manotick.
While the theft is an unexpected blow to the bazaar, it remains open for the rest of this season until Nov. 17. It’s a fall tradition for many families in the Ottawa Valley.
Bakker says she’s hoping customers won’t see the impact of the theft, and they can bring in more products. Fully restocking the jewelry room could take years, she said, though the store has been in touch with suppliers who can ship goods right away.
Despite the unexpected setback, Bakker is “trying to manage as best we can, in a healthy way.”
“I think, from a human standpoint, it shakes us a bit,” she added. “In terms of the state of the world right now, the hard times other people might be experiencing, to have to resort to this, I think that’s the one thing I go back to: The person or two people who did this, chances are they’re in a rougher spot than we are. Hopefully they can find some assistance and be in a better place.”
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