CANADA VANCOUVER ROBBERS STEAL VALUABLE MERCHANDISE AND COMPUTERS FROM BUSINESSSeattle Post-Intelligencer: Wedding dresses worth more than $300,000 stolen in VancouverVANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Hundreds of wedding dresses worth more than $300,000 (US$230,000) were stolen from a store in the city's upscale South Granville neighborhood, police said.

Investigators were seeking clues at consignment shops, new wedding stores and other operations after the heist was discovered Monday at Lisange Wedding World.

Police Inspector Tim Laidler said he had never heard of so many dresses being stolen at once.

"What are you going to do with 300 wedding dresses?" Laidler said. "They're going to have a lot of problems selling them.

"It's not something you can sell at a flea market ... It's not the sort of thing you buy off the back of a truck."

Besides the wedding dresses, 150 bridesmaids' dresses, 150 nightgowns and small amounts of jewelry, shoes, and computer equipment were lifted after alarm wiring in the ceiling was cut and the front door smashed, police said.
None of the stolen dresses was reserved for a wedding, so there won't be any unhappy brides, and only dresses up for sale were taken, owner Gavin Chio said. Rental dresses were left on the racks.

Employees replaced the glass door by noon Monday and took dresses from the back of the store to put on display.

The robbery was the first at the store since it opened five years ago, Chio said.