Thief digs hole to get to Great Lakes Outfitters merchandise

After only a week of being open at its Old Garden River Road location, Great Lakes Outfitters was the victim of a thief who made off with some power tools, but potentially could have grabbed much more.

Steve Meating, the store’s co-owner, was greeted Saturday morning with the sight of a hole dug under a wall that surrounds a storage area.

The thief was able to take out some power tools, but couldn’t disable a security bar which would have allowed him to take bigger items such as canoes and kayaks.

The incident was captured on camera and reported to the police.

Great Lakes Outfitters is located at the former Velorution site. It moved away from the Queen Street location, which strikes Meating as ironic with all the talk of issues downtown. The store's grand opening was Nov. 1.

Great Lakes Outfitters was established in 1956 as Joe’s Sports and Surplus and has been outfitting the Sault Ste. Maire and Algoma region for more than 65 years.

The store has experienced some minor vandalism since moving to the new location.

Meating has been told that there are make-shift encampments behind Walmart and Home Depot.