It hasn’t been a good week for Glen Park merchants, to say the least.
Monday morning (July 22), after midnight, Destination Bakery was broken into. Burglars kicked in the glass door, which has since been replaced. They took the cash register, which only had around eight dollars, said Indy, a bakery employee.
In the same time frame, Higher Grounds was also hit; again the cash register was taken. It had twenty dollars in it. In the process of stealing it, the thieves knocked over and damaged the espresso machine.
Manhal Jweinat, owner of Higher Grounds, said he got a call from his niece at 6:00 that morning. Someone had notified her that the door to the cafe was open. Jweinat immediately rushed over. A pane of glass in the window of the door had been broken to gain entry. With no cash register, the cafe was closed for the day.
Later in the week, Friday, July 26, Glen Park Hardware was burglarized in much the same way. A passerby noticed keys strewn about on the sidewalk. By 7:00 a.m. the fire department had covered the window. A police officer was parked in front of the store, waiting for the owner to arrive. She had no details about what, if anything, was stolen.
At around the same time, Gialina’s Pizzeria was also burglarized. Their cash drawer was tossed into the middle of the 200 block of Joost Avenue, per a tipster to the GPA website.
Jweinat conjectures that the crimes were committed in teams because, on both occasions, two businesses at a time were hit. “It’s very upsetting,” he said.
Police reports become available to the public ten days after they’re filed and more details may become available. We are reaching out to Captain Hart, the Glen Park Merchants’ Association, and Supervisor Mandelman for more information and perspective.