'Burglars broke into our brand new Walsall newsagents before we could even open the doors to customers'

Stafford Street News was due to open to the public at 6am on November 10, but remained closed after the newsagents in Walsall town centre suffered a break-in at about 3am on Saturday followed by a door being damaged at about 4am on Monday. In the first incident the stock of vapes, sweets and crisps worth more than £2,000 were stolen and the premises near Travelodge ransacked. In a second incident doors at the premises and neighbouring Bayside laser clinic were damaged. The joint proprietor, Muzammil Nazir, aged 25, said: "We've spent thousands of pounds setting up the business. "We were going to open today, but we'll have to put it off for another month or two because the stock has been stolen and damaged. "We're just in shock because we've put a lot of effort into getting it set up. We only put the signage up on Friday because we were planning to open on Monday morning. "Then on Saturday the CCTV from a neighbouring businesses picked up a group of people climbing over a wall, approach our shop then breaking in. They've stolen just under £3,000 worth of vapes and chocolates and crisps. As they left a lot of sweets fell on the floor and were damaged. We can't sell those." "Then this morning somebody came and kicked in the doors at our shop and the premises next door. Nothing was stolen this time. "We've been left in a terrible situation," Mrs Nazir explained. The incidents have all been reported to West Midlands Police which said: "We were alerted to items being taken after a break-in on Stafford Street sometime between 6.30pm on Friday and 9.40am on Saturday. "We then received a further report of a burglary in the early hours of this morning (November 10). "We’re carrying out inquiries to establish whether these are connected and to identify who was involved. This includes reviewing CCTV in the area." Anyone with information should contact officers via Live Chat on the force website or by phone101 quoting 20/436070/25.