PORT CHARLOTTE — As Paul and Diane Mosher began cleaning up after a Tuesday burglary wiped out nearly everything from their Kings Highway jewelry store, they said customers started coming by the shop, offering their help and support in different ways.

The Moshers plan to try to rebuild their 15-year-old business, which they envisioned as their retirement nest egg, but still are taking stock of the total losses.

Paul estimates at least $50,000 in damages to the store itself, but vowed that the business would live on, and he hopes to reopen its doors sometime next week.

“We’re going to try to pick up the pieces and see what happens,” Paul said. “We started from scratch 15 years ago. It worked then and it can work again.”

Details of the burglary are still hazy. The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office declined to offer any more information, saying it didn’t want to jeopardize the investigation. Mosher, a retired CCSO lieutenant, did the same.

What is known is that sometime between late Monday night and early Tuesday morning, burglars were able to enter the store, located on the 1900 block of Kings Highway, and take a large amount of jewelry.

The store has been burglarized twice previously, in 2006 and 2007, with losses and damages topping $100,000, according to Paul.

Daniel Feola, general manager of Pool Boy pool supply store a few doors down from the Moshers’ shop, told the Sun on Tuesday he heard during the most recent incident that burglars gained access to the jewelry store by knocking a hole through the drywall of an adjoining storefront. The burglars then disabled the alarm system and drilled through the safe, Feola said, but those details have not been confirmed yet by the CCSO.

Paul said all of the layaway items, as well as the items customers had brought in for repair or maintenance, were stolen as well. All of the store’s files also were taken, Paul said, but none of the files contained personal customer information, other than phone numbers.

The Moshers are asking all of their customers who had items in the store for repair or on layaway to contact them to find out what exactly was lost.

They’re also hoping the hard work they put in over the course of a decade and a half can be replicated as they move toward getting back on their feet. Paul said they had brief conversations about scrapping the business and trying something else, but in the end, they went with their original plan.

“We’re not closing because of this,” he added.

Customers are asked to contact the store at 941-629-2911.

Email: dwinchester@sun-herald.com