SAUGUS — Perhaps it was the threat of being exposed on local television, being caught, red-handed, with the goods, that prompted the perpetrator in last week’s theft of a tiki chair from Kowloon in Saugus to return it Tuesday.
The unidentified man returned it to the restaurant Tuesday night, well before the Friday deadline Bob Wong, owner of the popular Asian restaurant, had imposed before he went public with a video of the caper.
The chair has been “kidnapped” from the lobby of the popular restaurant Thursday night — the second such theft involving tiki-themed furniture at Kowloon in as many years — said Wong.
“The chair was right where we play KENO, so there was video set up. We have a pretty clear picture, too.”
Wong is happy the matter is resolved. He said nobody wanted to prosecute the perpetrator, or to embarrass him.
“He said he loves Kowloon,” Wong said. “He was joking with his friends and got carried away. He didn’t want to be banned from Kowloon.”
He’s a young man who was out with two of his friends, saw the chair, and walked off with it.
Wong first came up with the idea of a tiki bar last year, and, he said, it did very well. There was a lot of thought and planning given to expanding the bar for the summer this season until the coronavirus pandemic hit.
“We were going to make it a bit bigger because it was so popular,” Wong said. “During the winter, we saw these tiki bar stools that we thought would look good around the bar.”
Then came COVID-19.
“COVID hit and that kind of doused our plans,” Wong said. “We assumed we’d be shut down for a long period, or not open at all, so rather than spend the money on something that wouldn’t materialize, we stopped.”
But the Wongs saved the chairs and decided to put them in lobby “because they look kind of cute,” he said.
“So, we displayed them in the lobby, and last Thursday someone came in, and walked out with one of the chairs.
“We wanted to be a little tongue-in-cheek about it, but at the same time it’s a message that you don’t steal people’s property.”
