A shop worker was in shock after a neighbourhood store was robbed at knifepoint on Saturday morning.

Adelle Burgess said a man in black came into The Mini Market, on Ord Road, Paget, at about 8.30am, locked the door behind him and brandished a large, rusty knife.

Ms Burgess said: “It was something that I had never dreamt of. Once I saw the knife, I knew he meant business.

“When he locked the door behind him, that was awful. At that point I didn’t know if he was going to pull out a gun.

“When I saw the knife, I thought there might be some hope for me here.”

Ms Burgess said she first saw the man outside the store shortly before the robbery.

She said: “I came into work at 8am. I opened up, took the trash out and locked the door behind me. As I went, I saw this man coming down this hill.”

Ms Burgess said she greeted the man, threw away the trash and returned to the store.

“I came in and I saw him on the camera standing there for a couple minutes,” she said.

“Then I had a customer, so I took my eyes off the camera and lost track of him.

“Once the customers left, he walked in and he locked the door. That’s when I became concerned.”

Ms Burgess said that when she saw the robber pull out a knife, she grabbed a metal filing container behind the counter to defend herself if needed.

But she said the robber went to the register and began to take out the cash.

Ms Burgess said: “He didn’t ask for a safe or anything. It was like he just wanted to get the cash and go.

“I asked him what he was doing, robbing people like this? It’s a nice little neighbourhood store.

“‘Oh, I need money, too.’ That’s what he said.”

Ms Burgess said the robber removed the cash from the register and left.

She said: “He unlocked the door and walked out like nothing happened. He walked. I was watching on the camera to see how far away he was.

“I came running out screaming, ‘Somebody just robbed me. Somebody just robbed me’.”

She said there may have been a few hundred dollars in the register at the time of the robbery and added: “It’s a lot of money for a small business trying to struggle through days and stay afloat.

“It’s horrible. No amount of money should be stolen from anybody like that.”

Ms Burgess said she had worked at the store for about four months.

She said: “You hear about a lot of things going on in this neighbourhood, but working here it has been good.

“So far, all it has been is meeting different people. That’s part of the reason why I can’t believe they got robbed.”

The suspect is described as brown-complexioned, slim and dressed in black.

A police spokesman said today that the armed robbery is still being investigated and officers are “following very specific lines of inquiry”.

The spokesman added: “Detectives are keen to talk with members of the public who may have seen anyone in the area acting suspiciously before, during or after the incident.

“Anyone with any relevant information is asked to call the Criminal Investigation Department on 247-1744.”