Someone broke into Casey’s Crafts in the Bayview Shopping Center late last Saturday night or early Sunday morning and made off with a heavy safe from the office, owner Laurie Davenport of Langley said Tuesday.

“It must have taken some pretty strong people to do it,” Davenport said. “The safe weighed more than 300 pounds.”

She said the black and shiny safe about the size of a small dishwasher contained a small amount of cash. The safe has yet to be located, she said.

Davenport said it was unclear how the thieves entered the store, but there were pry marks on the inside office door, and the door had been taken off its hinges.

She said there were no scuff marks on the floor, and speculated that the burglars may have put the safe on a chair with wheels and rolled it away.

She said the burglary was discovered when manager Patty Currier opened the shop on Monday morning. She said the Island County Sheriff’s Office was contacted, and deputies dusted for fingerprints.

Davenport, who also owns Quilting by the Sea in Langley, said it was the first theft she has experienced in the five years she’s owned Casey’s Crafts.

“It’s difficult to be a small business owner struggling to make it, and have something like that happen,” she said.

She said Neil Colburn, owner of Neil’s Clover Patch Café next door, loaned her some change so the craft store could conduct business on Monday’s holiday, when the banks were closed.

“He was very neighborly about it,” she said.

“It’s a little painful,” Davenport said of the break-in. “But there was no collateral damage. They didn’t mess up the place.

“No yarn was taken,” she added. “I guess they weren’t crafters.”

Sheriff’s Det. Ed Wallace said Tuesday that investigation of the break-in continues. He urged anyone with information to call him at 360-678-7968.