Dave and Christina Dunlop own a shop called Once Upon A Child West. They buy children's clothes and equipment from families, then sell them to families at a cheaper price.
One day, the couple noticed a stroller had gone missing. They reviewed the security footage and were shocked when the thief turned out to be a mother with her child. The mother casually pushes the stroller out of the store as if it belonged to her.
"We kind of started thinking, 'I wonder what else has been going on,'" said Christina Dunlop.
When they began to review more footage, they only found more thieves. Another woman put her child into the stroller and pushed it out of the store. The Dunlops also caught another woman stealing clothes.
"I just couldn't believe it," said Dave Dunlop. "They took this two-year-old and then put them in a different stroller that was more expensive and wheeled them out of the store, right on camera."
One of the strollers was worth $225, while the other cost $300. It was especially disturbing since the philosophy behind the store was to help families who couldn't afford items at their retail values.
"It's been a real eye-opener for us to know that we need to have somebody out on the floor," said Christina.
The store owners realized they may have been overly trusting of their community, and now they feel they have to take more action to prevent theft. What's most concerning is that every theft was instigated by a parent and their young child.
"The support from the community, when we put the post out on Facebook, has been amazing," said Christina Dunlop. "Everybody really came together and wanted to help us find the person who had done this, so that was really great."
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