The recent smash-and-grab raid at Walker Christopher on Queen Street has shaken retailers in Hamilton.

A man entered the Hamilton jewellery store and smashed a display case with a hammer at the weekend. The raider grabbed a quantity of jewellery and escaped on the back of a motorcycle driven by another man.

“The staff and directors of Walker Christopher were rattled by the brazen robbery on Saturday at lunchtime.” said John Archer, a director at the store.

“The showroom has alarms and cameras and hurricane shutters and all the recommended protections. but none of that helps during business hours and when thieves are concealed behind helmets. Even a panic button to the police station will not guarantee the police can get to us in time.”

The man stole several items, including Cuban bracelets with coffin catches, before fleeing.

“The robbery happened in less than three minutes and while there were many witnesses, it is understandable that none of them wanted to try to stop someone with a hammer in hand,” Mr Archer said.

“When the burglar on Saturday was leaving, he tried to push open the door rather than pull and thinking that he was locked in smashed the door to get out,” Mr Archer said.

“Probably the only thing that might have stopped him was a Taser, which is obviously not legal for shopkeepers to have in Bermuda. Without a weapon or a nasty confrontation, this sort of thing looks to be a trend that will likely continue in Bermuda,” Mr Archer said.

Walker Christopher operates from a second-storey store on Front Street, with two entrances, one on Queen Street and one on Front Street.

“We have considered offering our merchandise by private appointment only and buzzing clients in and out but that isn’t practical in the summer months with visitors. And we really wouldn’t want to be in a situation where we we’re stuck in a showroom with the perpetrator detaining him until the police arrived,” Mr Archer said.

A handful of jewellery stores operate along Front Street, including Alexandra Mosher.

A supervisor at the store, Brittany Leamey, said: “I feel our store is pretty secure. We have are own security protocols in place. As for Bermuda’s general security, I would like to see a little more police presence, possibly roaming the streets during the day, to feel a little more secure.

”But we are kind of out of the way, so I feel a bit safe down here on our end, even though we have had neighbours broken into, but luckily so far we’ve been OK,” Ms Leamey said.

On the next block, Bermuda Jewellery opened its door in May. Owner Tim Palmer was also concerned about the nearby break-in and jewellery robbery.

“Obviously, with all the recent events, it’s very concerning, but we are taking as many measures as we can. We’ve taken advice from the police and we’ve incorporated a lot of measures, such as the grille on the front of the store.

“All the jewellery goes into a safe every night. We don’t leave anything out. So, that’s about as much as you can do at the end of the day.

Electronic good stores such as P-Tech, on the corner of Queen Street and Reid Street, have also been targeted

“We’ve been broken into four times already,” said Todd Martin, the general manager.

“Typically they have gone after Apple and Samsung products. They have obviously been in here, cased the joint, know where things are, so they will smash, grab and go,”

Mr Martin noted that a consultation was held between retailers affected by break-ins and the police last September.

“This new thing, where they are coming and smashing, grabbing and going is a new concern,” Mr Martin said.

Last year, Minister of National Security Michael Weeks announced an upgraded surveillance network of 247 high-tech cameras to be installed across the island. It remains unclear how many cameras are installed and operational.

Mr Martin noted the police had been responsive to the break-ins and successfully caught most of the people who had broken into the store.

“To be honest, in my four break-ins, I think they’ve caught almost everybody. The first ones they got them for their blood, because they cut themselves and the blood evidence — even though they tried to pour gasoline all over blood. But they still got them for that.

“The second arrest, they caught what we think were the same guys but from a different store. They had broken into another store and we anticipate that they were the same ones who broke into ours — they just didn’t catch them with our stuff. I’ve looked at footage from there and it's the exact same guys.

“The third one was in September and then next one was in October. In the September one, I don’t think they had much to go on. They broke in and they were only in for a minute or two. They ran out and they didn’t get much. The last time, they caught the guys as they came out of the shop,” said Mr Martin.

“You are not going to catch everybody unfortunately. It’s just something that you expect in our business.”