Thieves take £30,000 of men's designer wear

The smash-and-grab raid happened at Dartagnan in East Street last Wednesday at 2am when two men wearing hoodies smashed into the store through the front door.

They stole jeans, jackets, jumpers and shirts.

The goods included items from the labels of Hugo Boss, Armani, Stone Island and Ben Sherman.

After rifling through the store, the men dumped the stock in a black Ford Transit van and made off. Police are working on deciphering the registration plate of the vehicle, which is thought to be M-reg.

Shop owner Matt Hasted, who was alerted by a security alarm company, said the theft had put a huge blight on the store.

"It's a massive blow. We're heading into Christmas '“ our busiest time of the year.

"Twenty-five per cent of our annual turnover happens at Christmas, and this is a massive chunk out of it.

"We start working on our Christmas stock in February.

"That's the biggest blow, really '“ knowing all the planning and hard work we've done has been blown in just a couple of minutes.

"We've been scratching around trying to get stock from other places, but it's very hard because a lot of the things we sell are exclusives and there aren't large stocks of them.

"It's difficult to replace stock like that at short notice."

n Police are asking for anyone with any information to contact DC Jason Vickers at Chichester CID on 0845 60 70 999 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 in confidence, quoting 74 21/11/07.