Smashed windows, trashed patio add to woes of downtown merchants – London Free Press (Blogs)

As a business owner, we are trying to make the business survive at all costs, she said.

When we were broken into, the alarm went off and I raced to the store from home. When I got here, there was a police officer and a dog inside. I was terrified.

The surveillance video showed a man crawling into the business while another person served as a lookout.

Nooners restaurant on Clarence Street has seen sales drop 75 per cent since March and, in the same time period, its windows have been broken three times.

We boarded up the windows and they came back with a saw and cut through the door. They took a ton of food, said Cathy Walsh, who has owned the business for 34 years.

The restaurants downtown are hurting bad.

There could have been more break-ins, but Walsh installed bars and safety glass on all the windows, she said.

London police Wednesday could not offer a breakdown of how many incidents of vandalism have occurred downtown since March. They have charged a person in connection with the damage at Che Restobar.

He destroyed the whole thing, owner Che owner Marvin Rivas said of a man who took a golf club to his patio. We will wait until the spring to see what we do. We are having a lot of problems with the homeless, with mental health issues.

Barb Maly, director of Downtown London, is not surprised merchants believe there has been an increase in property damage.

Anecdotally, we have heard there are more reports, more incidents in recent months, she said.

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Smashed windows, trashed patio add to woes of downtown merchants - London Free Press (Blogs)