People steal napkins, sugar packets and toilet paper but one Toronto coffee shop owner is perplexed by the latest theft from her store.

Someone managed to smuggle a toilet tank lid out of the Second Cup in Bloor West Village, says store owner Krista Cassidy.

"Things go missing every now and then but this is certainly the strangest thing that has ever been taken — didn't know I needed to tie down the tank lids," Cassidy says.

Cassidy says the lid went missing sometime on Monday, July 12.

There is a front door and back door for the Second Cup and Cassidy suspects the culprit brought in a big backpack and walked out the backdoor to evade staff members.

"It didn't have to be a huge backpack by any means but they probably stuffed in there and went out the back door so they didn't have to go past the counter."

Cassidy doesn't know exactly when it happened and not wanting to bother police, she watched her security video for Monday.

"I spent about three hours watching all my security footage from Monday on fast forward but unfortunately, I couldn't spot the culprit," she says. "And I don't know what I would do even if I had seen somebody walk out with it so that was a total waste of time."

She posted a message on the Bloor West High Park Junction Community Facebook page hoping someone might find the lid abandoned in some back alley in the neighbourhood. While no one has spotted the missing lid yet, there were tons of suggestions on where to get a replacement.

Theft is not new at the shop — napkins and even some dollar store Christmas decorations have been stolen in the past.

"People take basically anything."

Cassidy says the store had a couple break-ins at the beginning of the pandemic but nothing major was taken.

She assumes who ever took the toilet lid likely needed it for their own home but it is still a strange thing to do. Cassidy bought the store in 2017 and this is one of the oddest things to happen.

"It's the weirdest thing that has ever happen us," Cassidy says. "It's kind of funny too."