A jewellery store has been left in ruins after thieves used a car to smash their way inside.

Victoria Lily Jewellery on Carpenter St in Melbourne’s Brighton was broken into by at least two thieves about 4.30am on Monday.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Thieves trash melbourne jewellery store in brazen four-minute robbery.

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CCTV footage shows the thieves ramming the metal security gate with a car, then using a rope tied to the vehicle to rip the front door off its hinges.

The car is believed to have been stolen.

Police believe “the offenders stole an amount of jewellery before fleeing”.

Shop owner Joan Charbonner rushed to the store within four minutes, but by then, the damage was done.

Almost all of the store’s glass display cabinets had been shattered, and Charbonner was still working to determine what was taken.

“Four minutes. This is what they did in four minutes,” Charbonner told 7NEWS.

It’s the third time her small business has been robbed.

“The small businesses get targeted and we can’t survive. It’s just devastating,” she said.

Police say the investigation is ongoing and are appealing to anyone who witnessed the incident, or has CCTV or dashcam footage from the area, to come forward.