Armed bandits used duct tape to bind and gag two female clerks during a brazen late-morning robbery on Hamilton Mountain yesterday.

Their loot -- expensive clothes.

Police say two men wearing disguises and brandishing handguns entered Couture, a high-end Upper James Street clothing store around 10:30 a.m.

"This is a very high-end clothing store, with labels that are unique and difficult to find," said Detective Mel Korda, of the elite break and enter, auto theft and robbery (BEAR) squad.

The robbers bound the women, 28 and 21, hand and foot, put tape over their mouths and began stuffing $390 jeans into bags. People in neighbouring businesses heard banging on the wall. A office-supply delivery man entered the store and may have interrupted the robbery, police said. The robbers fled out the back door and drove off in a green minivan.

Anyone with information can call the BEAR unit at 905-546-2991 or Crime Stoppers at 905-522-TIPS.

The Hamilton Spectator