A FAMILY opticians has been left in shock after raiders broke in overnight and stole £9,000 of designer sunglasses.

The break in at Raxworthy Visioncare in Christchurch saw the thieves smash a window to enter the premises before taking the products.

Police attended the scene after alarms were triggered in the early hours of Monday morning.

Officers attended before any of the opticians' staff got to the premises on Bargates.

Police forced entry into the building through the back door to check that the criminals were not still at the scene.

The theft of around 50 Maui Jim sunglasses and subsequent police investigation at the premises disrupted the businesses on Monday morning.

Staff said they have been left anxious and concerned that they may be targeted again.

Richard Taylor, owner and lead clinical optometrist at Raxworthy Visioncare, said: “Police said they could very well strike again, but they often do catch them out and bring them to justice.

“The key thing is that the perpetrators are brought to justice at the end of the day, which will stop it from happening to other people.

“We have insurances and are able to replace the sunglasses fairly quickly, but there is the longer impact on the staff.

"We are a small business like others in the town with a lot of returning customers. It is never nice to be targeted like this.

“They had a plan and knew what they wanted. It seems like they were in and out very quickly.”

After reporting the incident on social media and appealing for anyone who saw or heard anything around the time of the incident the opticians received a lot of support from concerned residents.

The opticians has served the Christchurch community for almost 70 years and general manager Mark Andrews described the business as a “small family”.

“This is a hardworking practice which supports the people of the town with a vital service,” Mr Andrews said.

“It has been heartwarming to see the support. We hope there is some form of justice.

“We are a family business. We don’t have a large number of staff and it feels like someone has attacked us as a small family.”

A spokesperson for Dorset Police said they were called at around 1am on Monday.

“An officer attended and confirmed that a break-in had occurred,” he said.

“It was discovered that entry had been gained by smashing a window at the rear of the premises and around 50 pairs of sunglasses had been taken.

“Police are continuing to investigate this incident. No arrests have been made at this stage.”

Anyone with information about the burglary is asked to contact Dorset Police on 101 quoting occurrence number 55180037073.