Businesses vandalized along Central Ave. in St. Pete, frustrating owners: 'We work so hard'
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Local business owners on Central Avenue in St. Pete say recent vandalism, including suspects smashing their windows, is making it even harder for them to make ends meet. One business was hit twice just this week.
"It was really hard to come into work that day and see that," Eniko Olah, co-owner of Sans Market on Central Avenue, said.
"This is my baby, and it's just like, it makes you wonder why people would do something like this. You know, we work so hard," she said.
St. Petersburg Police responded to the shop around 5:45 Wednesday morning to a call that the front window had been smashed. Officers are looking for a suspect. Unfortunately, cameras didn’t pick up what happened, Olah said.
She said thankfully, nothing was taken, but the damage was costly enough. It will cost about $1,000 to replace the window.
"Right now, we're really counting pennies, just as a business in general, to make sure we can pay rent and pay our team and do payroll," she said.
"I feed my family with this. It's not like we have a huge budget or some fancy insurance policy, so it's really just coming out of my pocket to try and figure out how to pay for this," she said.
Olah’s business was just one hit along Central on Wednesday morning. Police said between 2:30 a.m. and 8:15 a.m. Wednesday, an unknown man wearing a hoodie broke into Zaza Smoke Shop at the other end of Central. The store’s owner said $3,000 to $4,000 worth of cash and merchandise were taken. Officers are looking for the man.
It’s just two days after two teenagers broke the window of the same smoke shop and ran with items. Police took them into custody.
This all comes after police said a man threw a brick and a large stone at the front door and windows of the Hatchet Hangout on Central Wednesday, May 22. It shattered the windows of that business. Officers are looking for a white male, close to six feet tall who is 25 to 30-years-old.
The owner of the Hatchet Hangout said the damage set the small business back about $13,000.
"You have more businesses," Major Markus Hughes from SPPD’s Patrol Response Division said. "You have more potential targets. You've got more people just because you know of the nature of being downtown. So, there is always, a more likelihood that there'll be more criminal activity that occurs there just because there are more opportunities for, for crime to occur," he said.
Major Hughes said the number of incidents in the past week isn’t completely abnormal, but it does do a number on local shops.
"It hurts them a lot. They’re not these big businesses that have, you know, tons of funding. These are small, family-owned businesses that when they have to repair something, it's coming out of their pocket," he said.
The recent incidents come as city crews cleaned the Pride street mural along Central on Thursday after it was defaced twice last week. The city is paying $1,100 to restore the mural before Pride Month starts June 1.
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SPPD said police have identified the driver of the truck involved in the first incident on May 17. It’s still under investigation and charges are pending. They are still looking for the driver of the blue two-door vehicle that did doughnuts on the mural.
SPPD said they step up patrols in areas where any kind of crime occurs, especially if they don’t have someone in custody. Officers ask anyone who knows anything about the incidents to contact SPPD. You can remain anonymous.
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