The owner of a downtown Dartmouth café and sandwich shop says someone stole a piece of art right off the wall during a busy lunch hour.
Renée Lavallée says Monday was just like any other day at The Canteen on Ochterloney Street until she noticed something was missing.
"I came into work (Tuesday) morning, was looking across the room at a white space, and I was like, ‘Guys, what happened to the painting?’" said Lavallée.
Lavallée says her employees assumed she had taken it home, but that wasn't the case. After reviewing security footage, she discovered a person making their way around the shop, then removing the framed Eric Miller print and walking away.
"We were so busy,” said Lavallée. “Nobody even noticed that someone had taken a painting."
The bad deed left many employees perplexed.
“We were very surprised,” said employee John Cunningham. “We love our community, we love our clients. To have someone jig us like that was a little disheartening."
Longtime customer Scott Comeau says it's upsetting to know someone would steal from a local business and hopes to see the negative turn into something positive.
"I'd like to see it returned. It's an Eric Miller original and I think at the end of the day, paintingslike that can be sought after in life," said Comeau.
Lavallée says the response from the community has been overwhelming after more than 30,000 people viewed the security footage – a number that continues to grow.
"Breaks my heart that someone would actually feel like they've walked into my house and taken a piece of art off my wall," said Lavallée.
Lavallee did not decide to get police involved and would just like to see the print returned – no questions asked.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Suzette Belliveau.
