But by the time he arrived, at 3.40am, thieves had already fled with the cash contents of his safe, including two days' takings and wages staff had yet to collect after being paid on Saturday morning.

Thousands of dollars were gone.

"The worst part is my wife Dianne fell off a ladder in the shop on Thursday and she normally does all the banking,'' Mr Hill said.

"So Friday's takings were still there. They got Friday's and Saturday's.

"There were wages still in there for staff who hadn't picked them up yet and vouchers for sporting clubs.''

"It's a big loss for a small business.''

Mr Hill's wife, who cracked three ribs in her fall, has run the family-owned store for six years.

Mr Hill joined her at the end of last year after leaving his brick-laying business to their son.

He said it was not the first time the supermarket had been targeted.

Three years ago, thieves netted cigarettes valued around $7000 and just three months ago, a break-in attempt was thwarted when the alarm system was activated.

Mr Hill said the alarm was once again activated on Sunday but this time the thieves were not deterred.

"You put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into a business and you get pissed off when something like this happens,'' he said.

"At first we didn't think we had lost that much but then when Dianne asked if the cash bags were there and we realised they were gone, it went from a break-in to quite a substantial break-in.''

The 60-year-old said his initial reaction was to sell up, but that impulse had softened after 24 hours.

"I told customers yesterday it was on the market but I've only got six years to go (until retirement),'' he said.

Mr Hill said the staff whose wages were taken would not go unpaid.

"They won't go without, we will if we have to, but we will pay them," he said.