Watch: Bayfair Shopping Centre evacuated following brazen ...

Shoppers at Bayfair Shopping Centre in Mount Maunganui were evacuated after offenders carried out a smash-and-grab at the Michael Hill jewellery store this afternoon.

In a video seen by the Herald, a group of around four masked offenders could be seen brandishing weapons and smashing cabinets, and grabbing jewellery while alarms and smoke cannons went off.

The group could then be seen fleeing the mall in front of onlookers.

A Police spokesperson said they are responding to reports of a robbery at a store in the shopping mall on Girven Rd, around 3pm. The fog cannon was set off and the offenders fled the scene.

“The offenders left in a vehicle, which was located abandoned on Alverstoke Street around 3:10pm.”

A mum and daughter told the Herald the smoke alarm went off about 3pm.

Over the speaker she heard “please evacuate the building” and shoppers left en masse.

The mum’s 14-year-old daughter said she was in a changing room when the alarm went off.

”I’ve never gotten changed so fast in my life. I was freaking out - I thought it was a fire.”

A fire truck arrived before shoppers were let back inside about 15 minutes later with no explanation of what had happened.

A woman who arrived at the mall with friends after the raid said the shop was shut up and the lights were turned off.

Smashed cabinets could be seen through the windows.

Two police officers stood in the doorway but remained tight-lipped while curious shoppers asked them what had happened.

At 6pm, the store was closed.

Three Michael Hill staff could be seen behind Perspex doors cleaning up the mess in-store.

They were singing and waving to curious bystanders, while a police detective stood guard outside the cordon.

There was shattered glass on the floor, and several empty display cases.

There were also several cracked glass cases where the thieves had unsuccessfully tried to smash their way in.

The Michael Hill staff members politely declined to comment after leaving the store, other than to confirm they were unharmed.

“Sorry, you’ll have to ring head office.”

Today’s incident is the third time in 10 months that the Michael Hill store at Bayfair Shopping Centre has been targeted by thieves.

In March last year, three people wearing hoodies and masks were seen smashing jewellery cabinets and putting the jewellery in bags, while in June, offenders used tools to enter the store in an overnight robbery.

The store is the latest Michael Hill outlet to be targeted.

In December, two males carried out a raid at Auckland’s LynnMall.

The duo were wearing masks and entered the store about 11.15am armed with hammers. They smashed display cases and took several items.

They too left the scene in a stolen car.

An employee from a nearby shop said two “kids” came in with facemasks and hoodies, smashed the glass in at the Michael Hill store and then ran off.

“It was just a big bang, they had something to break the glass with and people were yelling.”

She said three security guards ran after the pair but didn’t catch them.

The LynnMall store was hit by another smash and grab in July last year, in which a black hoodie-wearing man repeatedly bashed the front glass counter with a large rock in an attempt to steal gems.

Last April, the jeweller made the tough call to permanently close its Takapuna store, which was the most ram-raided in its network.

In 2022, the company unveiled its new fog cannons at the New Lynn branch and announced heightened security measures, including using a DNA tracking spray, in stores across New Zealand in response to a spate of robberies and smash and grabs that have targeted its stores.

The cannon can be triggered by a button that staff members wear on a lanyard. It pumps out a non-toxic mist that reduces visibility to a distance of about 30cm.

Michael Hill chief financial officer Andrew Lowe said at the time that the cannons were mainly being installed in Auckland stores because most robberies “have been Auckland-focused”.

Fog cannons had already been installed in several stores, Lowe said. Installation costs up to $6000 but varies depending on the store.

He had not seen a fog cannon operate in person but had watched them activate on video.

“I’ve seen that we’ve had a couple activate, one in Vulcan Lane and one of our other stores, but they were for incidents in the middle of the night, not when we had people around and also in a closed environment. We’ve got grilles here in the stores in LynnMall.”