It was a weekend that was meant to be for rest and relaxation.
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But when Andy Liebeck of Andy Pandy Hair Candy received a 9am call on Saturday, March 23 from his sisters saying she had spotted his business's front door ajar and leaning into the shop, his heart sank.
Prior to the weekend break-in, the business owner had only just recently completed renovations to his hair salon on Gordon Street, Port Macquarie.
"I drove here feeling sick to my stomach, hoping nothing had been damaged," he said.
"And luckily none of the stuff I've recently changed in here was."
Mr Liebeck was greeted to the sliding glass front door of his business disconnected from the railing and leaning into the store with only a decorative phone box inside stopping the door from falling to the ground.
Inside a $135 professional hair straightener, Makita drill and a small amount of change was missing from the store.
"I don't have any cash in here so thank God for that," Mr Liebeck said.
"But they've ripped through every single drawer at the back and pulled everything out everywhere which made a bit of a big mess."
Mr Liebeck said in the mess left by intruders $1300 hair extensions were damaged.
Mid North Coast Police attended the scene that Saturday and are currently investigating the break-in.
The forced entry through the front door is estimated to have occurred between 9pm Friday, March 22 and 6am Saturday, March 23.
Instead of enjoying his weekend off, Mr Liebeck spent his Saturday and Sunday watching over the store before police arrived, arranging for his door to be fixed so his store could be secure and cleaning up the mess left from the break in.
"I don't know who would try and steal from a hair salon," Mr Liebeck said.
"It's not like we have massive amounts of cash or anything like that.
"It's just ridiculous."
The local business owner said that this was the first time that anything like this had happened in his store but that he had heard of other business break-ins in the area.
"It sucks but I guess as the population here in Port Macquarie gets bigger, there's going to be more of these types of things that happen," he said.
"So I think it's good for other businesses to protect themselves- I'm definitely going to be."
Mr Liebeck said he plans to upgrade his indoor and outdoor security system, and is encouraging other business owners to do the same.
"I wish I had [the intruders] faces or at least what they looked like," he said.
"And that's where [upgraded security] would have been a lot better."
The salon is currently appealing to neighbouring businesses for security footage that might have captured the break-in.
Anyone with information or CCTV footage is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.