A teenage girl has been arrested after she allegedly smashed up a convenience store in Hobart’s CBD.
The latest attack on American Convenience on Liverpool Street has seen a staff member quit and the business left with a hefty damage bill of over $2,000.
According to a staff member, the 16-year-old entered the 24/7 store just before midnight on Tuesday and began to rip products from shelves, throwing them at staff.
She screamed at the two employees in the shop at the time as they called 000 for help, before grabbing a metal canister and smashing a hole in the front door.
Police arrived within four minutes and handcuffed the teenager.
“It was so brutal, like a nightmare,” a staff member told Pulse.
“Every time we have to pay more than $2,000 [to fix our broken door] and on top of that, in Tasmania, you can’t get the glass easily.”
“And then she got herself injured and the blood was all over the floor, all of the products … You can still see some of this stuff we threw in the bin, it still has the blood on it.”
The employee said that while the number of violent incidents at the store has decreased from one or two a week to once or twice a month, they were “getting more serious”.
“Last year, it was just stealing. Just normal kid stuff. But now they come with a hammer. They start bashing stuff. They start kicking doors. They start breaking stuff,” the employee said.
“Our printer [has been] broken three times. Our till, which cost more than $5,000, [has been] broken three times from last November.”
“We are again going to pay from our pocket. There’s not much of a profit here. We hardly make the money. We hardly make end of the day.”
The employee said that no one wants to work for them with the risk of being attacked, putting the future of the 24/7 store in jeopardy.
“Every customer is very happy that they have something at night. They can get some ice cream for the kids. They can get some tobacco stuff and they get some drinks at the night,” they said.
“The guy who was working at that time, he just quit the job. He was just a trainee.”
A spokesperson for Tasmania Police said the teenager has been charged with damage to property and common assault.
She will appear in court at a later date.
Since it opened in 2023, American Convenience has been subjected to several reported violent incidents.
Those to make it as far as the Supreme Court included a teenage boy who threatened staff with a glass bottle and another who held a knife to a staff members throat.
“Kids know we have tobacco stuff and they know that they get away with every crime,” the staff member said.
“The police catch them and then after a month, they’re out.”
“Who’s going to be responsible if they come in with a mask and kill us? Who’s going to answer for that?”
