Small business owners take precautions against thieves
How many times can one business be ransacked by crash-and-grab criminals before the owner shuts down for good? That’s the tough decision facing a convenience store in Shoreline.
The location has been hit several times already, but Thursday morning, the owner suffered one of his costliest burglaries yet.
The owner, Bobby, said he’s still calculating the damages, but it looks like he’ll be out at least $30,000.
“Four guys with masks on—one didn’t have a mask, actually—they went to the inside of the store,” Bobby said. “They took my whole safe with a lot of cash inside. They took cigarettes, they took lighters, a lot of other valuable items.”
“My door broken, my door frame broken,” Bobby said.
“We, we feel very unsafe,” Bobby said. “My employees, me, we are having a lot of damages. It’s hard to run a business like that.”
On Oct. 27, his Chevron station in Ballard was hit around 1:30 a.m.
“Seven kids came in, they stole all my vaping products. About $8,000 to $10,000 [worth of] damage,” Bobby said.
“That’s the sad part,” Bobby said. “We keep putting [in] more money for the safety and security of the store. I’m thinking, we’re not putting any money in our pocket. There’s no profit, and we keep spending more and more money into the store.”
“We increased the security, we put [in] bulletproof glass doors—I thought, I’m covered. But, no, they always find a way to get in, you know,” Bobby said.
“I don’t know exactly what else we can do to secure our store and our property,” Bobby said.
According to Seattle Police Department, the robbery unit is investigating the Oct. 27th burglary in Ballard and is working to identify suspects.
