The front door of the Kingscote shop was forced overnight on Thursday last week and thieves took a large amount of stock, targeting Rip Curl, children’s clothing size 8 to 14, women’s clothes, Levi’s jeans and women’s underwear.

The break-in was notified to police about 7.30am on Friday when Deon Buick, husband of one of the co-owners Linda Buick, drove past and noticed stock on the footpath.

The shop’s insurance does not cover theft and if the stock is not recovered the business will be forced to close.

Ms Buick said she and co-owner Michelle Barrett had considered their insurance a few months ago.

The theft component was prohibitively expensive and they had considered it was not necessary on Kangaroo Island.

Police notified Sealink before the 8.30am ferry departed from Penneshaw on Friday morning to be on the lookout for anything suspicious but Sealink had so far not reported anything.

A police Crime Scene Investigation unit and detective will visit the island this week after a utility discovered abandoned at Reeves Point on Sunday was found to have some items of Lindelle’s stock on board. They will look for DNA evidence in the vehicle and follow-up on leads.

The utility had been stolen from Wheelton St, Kingscote, on Thursday night.

Ms Barrett said it would be difficult to trade out of the situation with most of their summer stock gone.

“We’ve both already got loans and we don’t want to borrow any more. We’ve got all the bills for the stock but no stock to sell to pay for them.

“We’ll have to make a decision soon because orders for next winter’s stock are due,” she said.

Local police officers said they were following any leads and would like to hear from anyone who saw anything suspicious.