Vintage cash register stolen from North End meat shop

A vintage cash register was the only thing stolen from a Winnipeg meat shop during a recent break in.

The owner of a North End meat shop says break-ins have become a common occurrence, but the latest smash and grab hit a little too close to home.

Christian Klopick of Tenderloin Meat and Sausage said someone broke a window Monday shortly before midnight. After speaking with police on the phone, Klopick said he immediately knew what was taken – an old Metropolitan cash register.

While the cash register wasn’t actively in use and had no money in it, Klopick said it holds a lot of sentimental value.

“It’s been in the family since we were kids,” Klopick said. “It’s very sentimental to us being a memory of the old store.”

He said his father, Walter Klopick, purchased the cash register around 1972 when he opened Taurus Meats on McPhillips Street. Over the past few years, he said it’s served as a reminder of the family business’ origins and a way to honour the elder Klopick, who passed away in early 2020.

“We have other pieces from that store as well – we just haven’t put them out on display. And now I’m kind of second-guessing that.”

Klopick said Monday’s break-in marked the fifth straight month they’ve been targeted by thieves – and it’s become more and more frustrating.

“Am I going to get hit again in March? April? May? Like, are we going to continue this?”

Klopick said he’s already spent thousands shoring up exterior doors and on new security cameras, and now he’s looking into installing metal shades to cover the windows at night. He added each pane of glass costs around $2,300 to replace – barely above the company’s insurance deductible.

“I have to turn this into Fort Knox just so I can survive and not have to be paying out all the time because it’s not worth it,” Klopick said.

Klopick assumes Monday’s perpetrator likely thought there was cash inside the register and hopes they’ll do the right thing and return it.

“If it’s a little bit damaged, it’s fine. I’ll pay to get it fixed up. But more importantly, I’d like to get it back.”

He is asking people to be on the lookout for the register, as it’s possible someone may try to sell it.