NORTH PORT — Managers and employees of Absolute Liquor & Wine say they are shaken after the store was robbed this week.
The North Port store is on Tamiami Trail in unincorporated Sarasota County, just outside the city limits.
Employees said two men in their 20s came into the store and stole money from the cash register around 9 p.m. Monday.
Manager Barb Carter has worked for the store for five years. Though people have shoplifted, she has never been involved in a robbery until now.
Carter spoke to The Daily Sun on Thursday about her experience while ringing up customer purchases. She said she works there a lot and customers know her well.
The robbery took her by surprise, she said.
“They came in looking for tequila — $47.59,” Carter said. “I had customers in the store.”
The pair evidently wandered around to the back.
One broke a bottle and asked Carter to get a mop to clean up the mess.
She went to the back to clean up the spill, and when she returned to the register, she saw one of the men was digging through the cash drawer.