Despite having scheduled to be closed on Family Day, one downtown grocery store had ‘customers’ anyway when the doors to the business were inadvertently open during the holiday.

On Monday, Feb. 18, 2019, the Food Basics location on Barrack Street was meant to be closed for the provincial holiday. However, with almost all of the grocery stores in the area closed for the day, those seeking a few staples or the fixings for dinner were happy enough to find the doors of the downtown grocer open – that is, until they went inside.

With no staff scheduled for the day, the open doors of the business meant members of the public were able to enter, but not actually purchase any items. Nonetheless, people walked around inside the store, some seemingly unaware of the situation, while others stood out front trying to figure out what was going on.

“I was standing there trying to decide what to do, and a guy comes out of the store with two packages of cherry tomatoes,” said one eyewitness who asked to remain anonymous.

“So I asked ‘Hey, buddy! You just taking some tomatoes?’ He said ‘I left $5 on the counter.’”

The witness then chose to contact Kingston Police to let them know what was going on.

According to Kingston Police, officers did attend the Food Basics location at approximately 4:25 p.m. on Family Day. Officers got in contact with a store manager, who found that nothing was damaged. The business indicated they would review store security footage and contact police if it appeared as though anything substantial was stolen.

“I looks as though there was no damage, and the situation wasn’t out of control or anything,” said Const. Ashley Gutheinz, media relations officer for Kingston Police.

“The doors were open, and we don’t know… what’s to blame for that, but it appears that the store manager indicated nothing was seriously damaged or stolen.”