Thieves steal thousands of dollars worth of Lego from Gympie Toyworld

The owners of a popular regional toy shop have been left gutted after ‘ratbags’ bashed their way into the store and made off with thousands of dollars worth of items in a midnight heist.

Staff at Gympie’s popular Toyworld have been left heartbroken and devastated after thieves bashed their way into the shop and stole thousands of dollars worth of stock in a midnight heist.

Manager Peta Caldwell made the discovery when opening up the shop Tuesday morning.

Items behind the front counter were strewn across the floor, and shelves resembled toothless smiles where toys and stock had been swiped.

It took Ms Caldwell some time to recount how it felt being confronted by the scene.

“How do you put that in words? I was totally and utterly shocked, and scared.” Ms Caldwell said.

“I was scared.

“I don’t scare easily and I was scared when I came in.”

Thieves have stolen Lego sets from Gympie Toyworld in an overnight burglary discovered by manager Peta Caldwell on the morning of February 28, 2023.

The thieves, who are believed to have broken in shortly after midnight, made off with a range of toys with a particular focus on Lego.

The theft forced the store to remain shut for the day and comes only a year after it was inundated during the near-record flood 2022 which submerged the city’s CBD.

Store owner Lorraine Broadley said the burglary happened as “we were really trying to put all (the floods) behind us”.

“We have a lot of faith in the community of Gympie,” she said.

“Then to have ratbags like that come in and destroy it.”

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On top of the lost trade and stolen goods, staff had to spend their day counting stock to try and determine exactly what was swiped.

Mrs Broadley said the final bill was going to be in the “multi-thousands of dollars”.

Toyworld owner Lorraine Broadley said the theft was the latest blow for her business, which was still recovering from being submerged in the devastating 2022 floods.

“We can’t keep upping our insurance either, because that keeps adding to our costs,” she said.

“We’re micro businesses, we’re not shareholder-funded.

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“We’re just friendly businesses trying to scrape a living so we can’t keep adding to the costs … just to protect ourselves to open the doors.”

Mrs Broadley said the shop was only the latest to be broken into at the CBD.

Online police data shows there has been 10 unlawful entry crimes committed within one block of Mary St in the past three months.

She said the continued break-ins were taking a toll on the community.

“This is starting to get out of control - youth crime,” Mrs Broadley said.

“We’re fairly certain it’s young people because of the nature of the things that were taken.

“But it was well planned.”

Police said they were investigating, saying the offenders fled the scene after stealing a “large quantity of toys”.

Ms Caldwell was grateful for the community support in the aftermath of the theft, and urged anyone with any further information to come forward.

Originally published as Thieves steal thousands of dollars worth of Lego from Gympie Toyworld