Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond, of Dunedin, said police were called to the Central City Countdown in Great King St at 6.30pm yesterday after two males threatened staff members with a knife.
Two men, a 20 and 19-year-old, allegedly stole alcohol from the store while intoxicated.
They left the store and were outside when a staff member approached the pair and asked whether they had ‘‘any plans to pay for the beers they had taken.’’
The 19-year-old then whipped out a knife from his pocket, rubbed it up and down his arm while telling the staff member to ‘‘f... off,’’ Snr Sgt Anthony Bond said.
The staff member went back inside and called police, who located the pair still hanging around the Countdown carpark.
Both were arrested, the 20-year-old would appear in Dunedin District Court on September 10, and the 19-year-old would appear this morning charged with possession of an offensive weapon and behaving threateningly.
Three years ago the Countdown store was the scene of a frenzied knife attack in which four people were stabbed.
Dunedin man Luke Lambert pleaded guilty to four counts of attempted murder and was jailed for 13 years.
