An organic health store in Crouch End has dusted itself down having been burgled four days after the launch of its online delivery service.
The Haelan Centre’s Broadway store, run as an independent family business for 49 years, was broken into on November 14 around 8pm as thieves made away with £3,000 worth of CBD (cannabidiol) products.
The “smash and grab” followed the food and health store starting up its new website, which allows customers to receive home deliveries around north London including in Crouch End, Muswell Hill and Highgate.
Of the break-in, owner Dave Krahn told the Ham&High: “It’s the last thing we wanted.
“During the first lockdown we invested a lot of time and money [into the website] because we wanted to bring food to people who couldn’t get out, who couldn’t do their shopping, who were ill or isolating.
“So to have this happen just four days after we launched our website, it was a little bit depressing.”
After hearing of the heist, Dave returned to the shop straight away and cleaned up the smashed glass and debris so that he could open the very next morning.
Now, with the website up and running, Dave is looking onwards and upwards as his longstanding business embraces the digital.
The shop owner said: “During lockdown it’s been very difficult for everybody so we wanted to offer what we had in our food shops in Crouch End and Park Road online.
“A lot of people were unable to come out, so we’ve spent the last five months building an online shop meaning we can deliver to people’s doors.”
The Haelan Centre, based in The Broadway and in Park Road, has 6,000 products online and delivers within a three-mile radius.
Dave continued: “The way people are shopping now is completely different.
“It doesn’t look like we’re going to get out of lockdown any time soon, so we wanted to turn a very difficult, negative time into something positive.
“We just concentrated on building the website, entering data and trying to get the logistics together. So as well as in our shops, we’re also serving the local community online.”
Click here to order a delivery with the Haelan Centre.
Use voucher code OTYD10 to get 10% off the first order. Local delivery is free for orders over £30 within a three-mile radius.
For more information visit the Haelan Centre’s Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.
The Ham&High’s Shop Local campaign is designed to highlight the hidden – and not so hidden – gems on our high streets. If you run a shop in our area we should be shouting about, contact our reporter Michael on michael.boniface@archant.co.uk or 07805 403 545
READ MORE: Shop Local: Dunn’s bakery Crouch End ‘hyped’ to open in Muswell HillREAD MORE: Shop Local: Muswell Hill and Crouch End traders need community support ‘now more than ever’
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