Armed robbers target Yoobee stores

Kiwi Apple retailer Yoobee has been the victim of two armed robberies in as many months, with one attack netting the thieves a haul of $18,000 worth of Apple products.

According to a New Zealand Herald report, the similarities between the robberies – perpetrated at Yoobee’s Newmarket and Symonds Street stores – have led police to believe they may have been committed by the same people.

Another Apple retailer, Ubertec in Parnell, has also been targeted, first in January and again in February this year. It’s not known what was taken or whether there may be a connection to the Yoobee incidents.

In the Newmarket incident, which took place on Saturday morning, the three robbers allegedly accosted a Yoobee employee in a staff carpark before the store was due to open. The staff member was threatened with a meat cleaver and told to open the door, but when he said he didn’t know the code he himself was robbed before the attackers made off with his car.

That incident followed a similar attack in March, at the Symonds Street store – now closed – in which a Yoobee employee was tasered and stock including iPads, iPhones and laptops was stolen.

Owned by Apple distributor Renaissance, Yoobee has two other stores in Auckland, the flagship store in Britomart and another in a Westfield mall in Albany.

Police are analysing CCTV footage and forensic evidence from the car involved in the Newmarket incident for more information on the robbers.