Smash-And-Grab Thieves Hit Several Small Businesses In Denver
DENVER (CBS4) – A cake shop in the Park Hill neighborhood is one of several small businesses burglarized across the metro area in a series of "smash and grabs" that left owners and employees cleaning up Thursday before reopening their shops.
"I felt like I was having an out of body experience," said Katie Magner, the owner of Cake Crumbs. "You're like is that really happening in that shop or am I seeing a reply of something that happened several years ago?"
Surveillance video shows two suspects breaking the glass of the front doors to her business around 3 a.m. Magner got a call from her security service and rushed to the scene with her husband.
She had to call 911 and get police to check the property and make sure it was safe to go inside the store.
"When we arrived we recognized that both front doors were smashed in," Magner said. "We discovered obviously broken glass all over the shop."
The suspects took a register drawer and a safe from the business. A neighbor living in another part of Park Hill called police to report noise in a nearby alley. Officers located the register drawer, safe, and other items from burglaries. But the contents of the safe were gone.
"It does appear that one of the guys that was in here was wearing a similar jacket to one of the guys in Arvada," said Magner.
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Magner also noticed the nail salon two doors down from her on the same street was also burglarized.
Staff came in for the early shift and managed to get the shop open in time for a morning rush. There was a line of customers waiting to go inside by the time they were ready for the day.
"It means the world to us, it means the world to me, it means the world to our staff," said Magner. "They are extremely supportive every day and I think on a day like today it drives us to patron us even more."
Magner was a longtime customer of the business that opened 11 years ago. Cake Crumbs began as a custom shop that became a café and bakery. She took over the business a little more than a year ago.
"He walked into the front doors and he felt sick and to know that I have customers that feel that vested in this business as well is heartening for sure," she said.
Insurance will cover some of the cost but Magner explains that is after a deductible. It will be a tough loss to make up but she is optimistic because the community and her customers.
"It seems super random, they seem very disorganized," she said. "I don't feel like there is any sympathy or empathy from the people that did this to appreciate how hard it is to own a small business."
After a long day of clean up and getting the business back to normal, Magner is ready to bring on the next day of work.
"I would just say to my community, I have a tremendous amount of gratitude to them for supporting us in this kind of situation," she said. "Checking in on us, making sure that we're okay."
Shawn Chitnis reports weeknights for CBS4 News at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Email him story ideas at smchitnis@cbs.com and connect with him on Twitter or Facebook.
