a customer, pretending to buy merchandise, made off with money.

The man browsed the Southampton shop at length and brought an item to the counter before he pushed store owner Anne Powell to the ground and escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash and a chequebook.

Mrs. Powell chased the robber from the store with a wooden pole, but he escaped on foot along Middle Road.

"He was a pleasant guy until he turned on me. When I chased him down the road, his language deteriorated very quickly,'' she told The Royal Gazette .

"The whole thing was obviously planned because he was wearing a helmet, rainsuit and gloves. His bike must have been parked somewhere down the road.'' Ms Powell said she used to take one of her dogs to the shop for protection, but had decided to stop.

Although some merchandise was knocked over in the brief skirmish, Mrs. Powell escaped uninjured.

"I was a bit shook up, and very angry. It's just horrible that this kind of thing happens,'' she said.

The shop closed at lunch yesterday, but will re-open for business this morning.

The bandit is described as a stocky black male and approximately five-feet, eight-inches tall. Anyone with information is asked to contact Western CID on 234-1010 or the Crime Stoppers hotline on 1 (800) 623-8477.