ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – There have been two knifepoint robberies in broad daylight this month alone at Uptown stores. “We moved uptown thinking, 'This is a great growth opportunity for us,' and we were shocked that it happened,” said Bailey Riddle, co-owner of Old Barrel Tea Company. It's true,” he said.
Riddle said the Uptown store was robbed at knifepoint on April 1, the robbers took $300 from the register, and it was robbed again just last Saturday. “Both times the man had a black face mask covering his face and was held at knife point, which was quite frightening for the team,” Riddle said.
Security footage from April 20 shows a man acting like a customer inside the store, talking with employees and looking at merchandise. But that didn't last long. Riddle allegedly pulled out a knife and told the employee to hand over all the money in the register. On Saturday, Riddle said the robbers fled with more than $450.
The business has locations in New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona. The Uptown store opened in October last year.
After the first robbery, they added more security cameras. Riddle hopes that some of the new measures he is currently taking will help alleviate this problem. “Some of the things we're working on is going cashless. We're starting a group messaging system with the Uptown community so we can share threats.”
Because of the similarities, Riddle believes the culprit in both robberies could be the same person. Albuquerque Police told KRQE that Saturday's incident is an active incident and the Robbery Unit is investigating.
