A Manchester store owner has vowed to carry on after raiders stole thousands of pounds worth of games and consoles barely a month after he opened.

Faisal Ali says theives forced their way into an interior yard, through a metal door grill, back door and locked internal door before disabling the alarm system and entering the 'Chips' store in Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton.

It is thought up to £20,000 worth of consoles and unboxed new games were taken and Faisal is now appealing to anyone offered them to contact the police.

"It was a terrible shock," said Faisal.

"Apart from ripping out all the drawers containing the games and emptying the place of all our new stock, they had made a right mess. They had overturned chairs, thrown packing material around and knocked over the computer system for good measure."

Fortunately, the raiders were spotted and information has now been given to the police which Faisal hopes will lead to their arrest.

"I am extremely grateful to whoever passed on information to the police and would appeal to anyone else who heard or saw anything in the area to contact police," said Faisal, 28, who owns the store with father and franchise partner, Mohammad Anwar, and runs it with the help of brother Quisar.

"I would also ask anyone offered games and consoles in pubs, clubs and on the street to report the matter to police. There will now be literally hundreds of games from our store floating around Manchester.

"We only opened the store on February 18 and it had been going really well. We have had lots of support from our customers who fear we will close after this. However, we will be carrying on.

"Fortunately, this is a franchise store of Chips and we have the backing and support of the UK's biggest independent video games retailer behind us. Everyone at Chips has been very supportive."

Faisal is still counting the cost of the raid and police investigations are continuing. Thieves left the second-hand product behind and once the security has been stepped up further, the restocked store will reopen.

Joint MD of Chips Nik Agar said: "This raid is a terrible blow to the Ali family and the whole of the Chips network. Fortunately raids like these are few and far between but when they happen we review our security again right across the group.

"The Ali family are very determined and Faisal will carry on. Chips Chorlton has the backing of the whole Chips network and the store will be a success."