A retailer has hit out after vandals targeted her shop’s £500 sign twice in one week.
Sally Vivash-Munro set up Stone Hair and Tanning Studio in the Aberdeen Market after moving to the north-east in August from Surrey.
She was initially attracted to the location because of regeneration projects such as The Green THI and the Merchant Quarter.
After fitting out the salon to a high standard, Ms Vivash-Munro invested her last £500 in a sign for Market Street to draw customers inside the shopping centre. Part of the 3ft-long sign was torn down last week and four days later another section was damaged.
Ms Vivash-Munro, 41, said: “My partner got a job in the oil industry so we relocated here at the end of August and I decided to open my own business.
“It is going really well and I chose to set up in Aberdeen Market because I knew it could be like the markets in London, which are really funky.
“Lots of the retailers are getting together and trying to make it a more appealing place.
“Due to restrictions set by Aberdeen City Council, the sign had to be in three sections so I went through all the right channels.
“The first time it happened last week I thought it could have been anything but, when another part of the sign was torn only four days later, I felt like I was being targeted.
“I have been really impressed with the police – they spent hours looking through CCTV footage and are really taking it seriously.”
Aberdeen Market manager John Dow said the incident was “disappointing”, especially after an effort had been made to redecorate the inside of the centre to attract more customers.
He said: “Who would do something like this?”
“I’m very disappointed for Sally because she spent a lot of money on the sign for it to be torn down two days later.
“Most of the units are let by small, independent retailers so it is not as if the owners have money to burn. Everyone is very helpful and we have been doing a lot of work on the internal decoration to make it more customer-friendly. I was very down-hearted after this happened to Sally’s sign.”