Regional police responded to yet another jewellery store robbery at Conestoga Mall on Monday evening.
According to Waterloo regional police, the incident happened at around 7 p.m. at a store inside the mall. Four suspects, all males, entered the store with masks and armed with hammers. They smashed display cases, stole jewellery, and fled the store.
The suspects exited the mall and left the scene in a black sedan southbound on Davenport Road.
Police have offered vague descriptions of the suspects. Two suspects are described as having small builds and were wearing black hoodies at the time of the robbery, one described as medium was also wearing a black hoodie, and a suspect described as having a large build was wearing a camo jacket.
Regional police are asking anyone with information to contact them at 519-570-9777, extension 8255.
Conestoga Mall has often been the target of jewellery thieves over the past year.
In November 2025, five suspects, including three youths, were arrested after an armed robbery at the same mall. Officers seized two fully loaded 9mm handguns during the arrest.
In February 2025, there were two robberies at jewellery stores in that mall in the span of about two weeks, with both teens and adults being arrested for robbing those stores with handguns and hammers.
In 2024, statistics from the Waterloo Regional Police Service showed that the regularity of jewellery store robberies rose by about 80 percent year-over-year.
But, the news isn’t all bad. Police Chief Mark Crowell was a guest on The Mike Farwell Show and touted WRPS efforts to curb robberies in general.
“In 2025, there were seven robbery attempts at jewellery stores but we did see a reduction in total robberies both commercial and person-on-person last year. It is one of our top three crime suppression categories and significant efforts are underway.”
Crowell said those efforts include conversations with mall security as well as with store management and employees.
But, Crowell admits it’s an uphill battle, however progress is being made.
“We know that this is connected to organized crime activity that often takes up outside our region to investigate. We have people coming here, often in stolen vehicles to commit these robberies. So, it’s nothing new. We’ve made great inroads in the past couple of years on reduction and prevention.”
