A thief operating a backhoe smashed through the wall of a north Edmonton business early Tuesday, clawing out an ATM in a destructive but smooth single scoop.

Hours later, as a cleanup crew vacuumed drywall dust off the ice cream cooler and hammered a temporary patch over the gaping hole in the wall, Sherbrooke Grocery owner Mijung Suh said she was baffled by the break-in.

Suh has owned the small grocery store on the corner of 121 Avenue and 127 Street since 2014, selling everything from jelly beans to dish soap to cigarettes. She said she has had trouble with crime before, but never something as dramatic as this.

Suh and her son live in a residence attached to the store property. But, after months of being surrounded by multiple road construction projects, the 3 a.m. crash did not unduly startle them.

A short time later, the phone rang. Her security company had been alerted of a break-in and had called the police.

Then she started to realize what had happened.

She went to the store to take a look, but the perpetrator had already fled, leaving behind a backhoe stolen from a nearby construction site.

"One part of the wall was gone ... It made a big, big hole," Suh said.

All that was left of the ATM was a roll of receipt paper that Suh found lying in the street.

A review of security footage from inside the store revealed the bucket of a large machine suddenly busting through the drywall and pulling the ATM out through the hole. Suh doesn't have any exterior cameras, but the owner of a neighbouring business has offered to check his exterior camera footage to see if there is anything helpful.

Edmonton police are investigating, and have put out a request for any witnesses who were in the area around the time of the theft to come forward.

Suh doesn't have any ideas who is responsible. Presumably, she said, it was someone familiar with operating a backhoe and who knew where the ATM was located inside the store.

For Suh, though this theft is certainly unique, it's just the latest challenge for her small business. Local road construction has been limiting traffic in the area and she's seen a slump in business. Not long ago someone threw a rock through a glass window at the back of the property.

"This year has been very tough for me," she said.

pparsons@postmedia.com

twitter.com/paigeeparsons