THE owner of an e-cigarette store which was targeted by thieves said she believes raiders stole to order.
Smoke Free in Arnold Market was the victim of a break-in over the weekend with £3,000 of stock taken and £700 in takings.
Owner Julie Clarke, 47, said the business has been hit hard by the break-in.
She said: "They must have been looking for certain things because they left some of the more expensive stuff behind.
"It just makes you feel completely violated – to think that someone has been around the shop and taken things.
"It always used to be that people would go after newsagents for the cigarettes but it seems that with more people using e-cigs that businesses like ours are getting hit too.
"I've been getting nervous now every time someone has come in thinking that it might happen again.
"You don't want to live in fear and be paranoid all the time, but things like this really get to you."
Items like docking stations were taken as well as nicotine liquids and e-cigarettes – and even the shop's till.
Mrs Clarke, of Roosevelt Road, Sutton-in-Ashfield, said: "It's put us back six months at least. We were going well with the shop but then this happens. It just makes you sick."
Mrs Clarke and husband John were at a funeral in Reading last weekend when burglars struck.
On Monday, they found a lock had been ripped off the front of the store and the items stolen.
Mr Clarke, 46, said the robbery could have a big impact on the business.
He added: "This could break us. We thought about just shutting up shop because of how much this will put us back.
"We started this business when we were unemployed and have built it up over 18 months.
"We had even taken staff on from the job centre to help more people get into work. But now it's ruined."
A spokesman for Nottinghamshire Police said: "Officers were called just after 9am on Monday, September 29, following a report of a burglary at a premises in the Market Place, Arnold, between 6pm on Friday and 9am on Monday, September 29.
"Police are continuing their inquiries."
Anyone with information is asked to call Nottinghamshire Police on 101, quoting incident number 161 of September 29, 2014.
