A nondescript corner store on Cannon Street East was the site of a botched, but bloody robbery on New Year's Eve.

It was 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 31 and the Extra Variety store near Cannon and Ottawa Street North was barren.

The owner Michael Cho, 65, was alone inside the shop waiting to close up.

But in about 10 seconds, the muted New Year's Eve became a night Cho and his wife, Sue, would not forget.

Three people entered the store.

One of them, Cho told CBC, rushed around the front counter and surprised him.

"He hid is face with one hand and with the other," Cho said, lunging with his arms.

"Suddenly, he stabbed me."

He said the robber stabbed him three times — twice in the middle of his chest and once by the heart.

Korean people are strong. - Sue Cho, co-owner of Extra Variety store

While Cho doesn't remember if the suspect demanded money, he does remember the shock on the suspect's face.

"He was surprised," Cho said, waving his arms. "There was blood, (I was) bleeding everywhere."

He said the suspects scurried out of the store and didn't steal a thing.

Sue was upstairs when she heard the yelling and when she entered the store, her husband was lying on the floor punctured and bloody.

First responders arrived shortly after and brought Cho to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

He was out of the hospital the next day, had his staples replaced by stitches and not long after, he was back in the shop.

While this isn't the first time thieves have targeted the store, it is the first time an incident turned violent.

But Sue and her husband both say they aren't scared.

"Korean people are strong," she said teary-eyed and with a sense of pride. "Everything is back to normal."

One suspect still at large

Lorraine Edwards, media relations officer with the police service, told CBC even if nothing was stolen, it can still charge a suspect with robbery.

"Coming in and causing a fear of threat or a robbery situation, their intent of what was happening at the time ... would still be considered robbery," she said in a phone interview Monday.

Hamilton's BEAR unit (break and enter, auto theft and robbery branch) identified and arrested two male suspects from Hamilton.

They're facing charges for robbery and assault causing bodily harm.

Officers are still looking for the third suspect.