The owner of a Pak'nSave supermarket in Hamilton which opened accidentally, with no staff on the premises, says he expects some of those who took groceries will return to pay.
A computer system failure is being blamed for allowing the doors of the supermarket to open on Good Friday at 8am.
Pak'nSave owner Glenn Miller says he has CCTV footage of people doing a grocery shop and walking out with the goods.
He hasn't tallied up the financial loss, but says people didn't go for the luxury items and 12 of them used the self-service machines to pay for goods.
By late Saturday, no-one had returned to pay, but if they do, Mr Miller says, says he will donate any money recovered to the Christchurch Earthquake appeal.
Mr Miller says it was obvious from watching the CCTV footage that people had just gone in to do their normal shopping, and weren't expecting the bonus of no-one being at the checkout.
Police were alerted to the unstaffed opening by a member of the public and the store was closed again at 9.30am, he says.
Retailers Association spokesperson Barry Hellberg says theft costs the country's retail industry between $1 million - $2 million per day. But he says he's never heard of an alarm system failing like this before.
