Whanganui's Fitzherbert Ave Dairy has been the target of an aggravated robbery for the fourth time.
A male armed with a screwdriver stole cash in a robbery just before 7pm on Wednesday."Someone jumped over the counter and grabbed cash," the shop owner, who did not want to be named, said.
"He had a screwdriver. He ran down the alley beside the shop to a car.
"This happens all the time in New Zealand after the government put up the cigarette price."
The owner, who was alone in the shop at the time, said he did not know how much money was stolen from the cash register.
A police spokeswoman said the offender fled in a dark-coloured four-door vehicle and had not been located. Police inquiries were continuing.
In May 2017 two offenders, one with a firearm and the other with another weapon, stole cigarettes and cash from the dairy.
The owner was injured in the robbery. Two people were later arrested.
The dairy was robbed twice in about two months in 2012, with cigarettes and cash taken in both robberies.
It was the second armed robbery in Whanganui this week.
On Mondaya youth wielding an axe threatened the manager of the Victoria Foodmarket in Victoria Ave and ran off with $19 cash.
Police later said they were speaking to a 14-year-old in relation to the incident.
There have been at least 18 other armed robberies and ram raids in Whanganui since December 2016, with offenders arrested and prosecuted in connection with seven.