The incident occurred on Saturday at the Castleton Market grocery store in Castleton Crescent, Grange-mouth.

Just after 5.30 p.m. the robber entered the store and threatened staff with a weapon, believed to have been a knife, before making off with a three-figure sum of cash.

Now, as police continue their manhunt, residents are asking for CCTV cameras to be installed in the street to call a halt to the youth disorder and underage drinking problems which surround the shop.

One told the Herald said: "I know that staff in the shop have been challenged by youngsters in the past – but there has never been anything like this.

"My two grandsons were staying with me on Saturday and they had gone into the shop about 10 minutes before the robbery. What if they had been in there when it happened? I can't even think about it."

One customer who visited the store later said: ''They must have known what they were doing because I heard one of them put their hand underneath the till and managed to get it open."

Shop staff refused to comment on the incident, stating the owner of the business – who is currently in Pakistan – did not want them to talk about it.

However, one elderly resident recalled seeing three youths acting suspiciously before the robbery.

''They were not local lads – I know most of the kids who hang around
the shop and I'd never seen these lads before,'' she added.

''They were standing away from the other kids at the corner outside the shop and looked agitated."

None of the residents The Falkirk Herald talked to wanted their names used because they feared reprisals.

One explained: "The area is overrun with kids and it's getting out of hand. I phone the police every other night to try to get them shifted. This robbery will maybe highlight that something needs to be done in the street.

"Things can get very intimidating here at times."

Councillor Alistair McNeil visited staff at the shop on Tuesday night.

"My main concern was to make sure they were alright – my first concern was for the staff. I heard that a knife had been produced during the robbery,'' he said.

''I have over 19 years of experience in shopkeeping myself and I've never heard of anything like this happening in the area before.

"I would like to think this was an isolated incident."

Police were still looking for the robber as the Herald went to press. He is in his early 20s and was sporting short blond, possibly dyed, hair and wearing a blue hooded top.

Detective Sergeant Gordon Boyce, of Falkirk CID, said: "Fortunately the shop staff were unhurt, but they have been left shaken by the incident.

"We are keen to trace anyone who recognises the description of the suspect, or who may has seen him either before the robbery or immediately afterwards making off from the scene."

If you have any information about this incident you should call police on (01786) 456000 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

j.trimble@falkirkherald.co.uk