01/11/2025
✨ Great news! We’re finally back open after a devastating break-in two weeks ago 💙 — and we can’t thank our incredible Coffs Coast community enough for your support. The offers of assistance, GoFundMe campaigns and all kinds of support were highly appreciated and heartened us greatly in this devastating time for our business.
💔 It’s been an emotional, exhausting time, and while we’re not yet 100 % back to normal, we’re so relieved to open our doors again. We’ve heard a few comments that the store experience right now feels a little less than people were expecting — and we completely understand. Please believe us when we say, we’ve worked our tails off to reopen as quickly as possible.
Five of our glass showcases were completely destroyed, and we’re currently waiting on custom-built replacements, which can take several weeks to arrive. We’d love to be able to snap our fingers and be back to full display straight away — but sadly, it’s just not possible. So for now, we ask for your patience and kindness while we rebuild - and we're still worth the visit! 🙏
📸 On the topic of kindness, the day we reopened, we received a new Google review. We thought it might be a supportive message after what we’ve been through — but no. It was a one-star review from 'Daniel', who visited during the last school holidays and was politely asked not to take photos in our store. Despite the signs and explanation from staff, Daniel took a sneaky photo anyway — and waited a whole month to post it with a bad review. We’ve included his review and our reply below.
❌ It's not quite the 'gotcha' Daniel thinks it is — mostly because it shows one of the showcases that no longer exists after the break-in, and also that his actions demonstrate a true lack of respect and understanding that 'no means no'. Security policies like no photography in our store exist for a reason. We don't have these in place to be mean or aggravate visitors. It’s about protecting our staff, valued customers, and our store — and we ask everyone to please respect that, especially in light of what has happened recently.
🌈 We can't wait to see you back in The Opal Centre soon and have a little surprise Thank You coming up for everyone who showed such great support to us over the past weeks. ❤
