THE heavily pregnant owner of a salon has been left counting the costs after thousands of pounds worth of stock and equipment was stolen.

Stacey MacKay, who has owned Serene Beauty in Eaglescliffe, near Stockton, for almost nine years said she “couldn’t believe it” when she realised her shop had been burgled.

Ms MacKay, who is around 40 weeks pregnant, locked up the salon at 4.30pm on Saturday, June 8, and expected to return to work the following week.

At some point between Saturday and the salon’s reopening on Monday, June 10, one or more intruders raided Serene Beauty, taking hundreds of beauty products and expensive equipment.

Ms MacKay said: “I couldn’t believe it. It happened at some point between closing and opening, we don’t know when.

“There was stuff all on the floor, then it slowly dawned on me that my stock was missing.

The Northern Echo:

“They had gotten in through the fire escape.”

Almost every beauty product, vital equipment, nail lamps, till, and even a state-of-the-art Elemis biotech facial machine worth £9,000 was stolen.

She said: “I felt sick, I thought ‘oh my god’ I am three weeks away from having a baby and I have to deal with this – what am I going to do with my clients, that I had booked in.”

Ms McKay who employs three others at her salon, is expected to give birth next week.

But despite being heavily pregnant, she said she knew how vital it was to continue trading in the face of devastation.

She said: “There was so much going through my head, I was thinking ‘what do I need to get ordered to us trading’.

“It happened during a busy time, with everyone going on holiday and especially people wanting to get their nails done.”

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She spent the whole of Monday cleaning up the trail of mess left, and ordered as many readily-available products as she could for next-day delivery.

She said: “We reopened on Tuesday, I ordered everything for next day delivery – to restock what I could.

"So far I’ve spent around £2,000 – we’ve had to do it to keep us going.

"We knew we needed to keep the clients happy.”

In the aftermath of the burglary, neighbouring salons and businesses in Eaglescliffe jumped to the rescue.

She added: “Everyone has been amazing.

“People from other salons have been offering their rooms for us to continue treatments if we need it.

“We’re in a competitive industry, but its lovely that we can all pull together at times like this – people I didn’t even know have offered help.”

Going forward, Ms Mackay said she will improve security, with the installation of a CCTV camera towards the back of the shop.

She said: “I am fully insured – it is now a waiting game, and I’m having to get all the paperwork together. We are investing in new alarm systems, around the back area and in the shop.”

An appeal for information has since been launched by police.

  • A spokeswoman for Cleveland Police said: “Anyone who may have been offered the items for sale or anyone who has any information regarding the burglary is asked to contact Cleveland Police on 101 quoting event number 096811.”