By Carol Tannenhauser
Spiga, Gazala’s, Blossom, Billy’s Bakery, Rosetta Bakery, Luke’s Lobster, and Joe Coffee all were burglarized in similar manner on Sunday night and early Monday morning, according to a police detective, who kept saying, “Wait, there’s another.” Here is his rundown of the crime spree:
Spiga To Go: 57 W. 84th Street; between the hours of 7:45 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. an individual broke the glass door and removed money from the register.
Gazala’s: 447 Amsterdam Avenue (81-82); perp or perps broke front-door glass and removed $600 from the register.
Blossom: 507 Columbus Avenue (84-85); at 3:45 a.m., a man was observed using a chair to break the front window, alcoholic bottles were taken.
Billy’s Bakery: 410 Columbus (79-80); glass door broken; perp took entire cash register and cookies. Cash register was found at W. 79th and Columbus.
Rosetta Bakery: 1928 Broadway (64); 1 a.m, the front door was forced open and a laptop was taken.
Luke’s Lobster: 426 Amsterdam Avenue (80-81); 4:30 a.m., broke front-door glass. Cash register was empty, fled with nothing.
Joe Coffee: 187 Columbus (69-70); at 1:55 a.m., front-door glass was broken, laptop and cash stolen.
(Thanks to Billy Amato whose tip about Billy’s Bakery uncovered these all.)
Incredible. So many businesses one after another and no one was caught? Any security camera footage?
One can only hope that the perpetrators were diabetic.
This is so awful.
Well, that’s how they got the killer on W. 83rd St. from the cameras across the street from the post office he was easily recognized by the neighborhood because he was the ex-super of the building Maria Hernandez was living and murdered in.
While our politicians amuse themselves with social justice experiment, our local businesses continue to suffer, our safety is in jeopardy and our city overall is becoming a third world favela.
Dana, you hit the nail RIGHT ON THE HEAD!!! Of course they are going to do this and a whole lot worse and continue to do it without fear or shame. Why shouldn’t they??? Nobody stops them, if they do they get beat up or murdered, police looks the other way because those delinquents won their defund, if caught….jail, where they belong forever, is only a revolving door! Yeah, nice new world huh?
This has nothing to do with policy. This is a law enforcement issue IMO. You’re deluding yourself by jumping to conclusions.
A better question might be. How is it possible 7 stores were broken into? The answer is lack of presence. More over, the lack of presence sends a big message to the other businesses, they are on their own!
I disagree. I think what Dana was saying is that the same perp or group of perps hit all seven locations. Furthermore, this is most likely not their first rodeo. They are experiences — in and out quickly. You cannot expect police to be everywhere all at once. That’s ridiculous. They are making radio runs all the time. So if they are called after the fact to one location, the perps are hitting the second location, and so on. It’s true, the businesses can be more pro-active in their own protection, but they have to close sometime, too, and unless the hood hires private securtiy for all night long, it’s not the job of police to stand guard all night in front of stores. Not sure how you imagine that happens anyplace, but it doesn’t.
Normally I am a huge advocate for the police but with all this mayhem in a small vicinity…where were they? Do police patrol anymore? Do stores not use alarms? What is the tipping point when someone calls Houston with the problem? Or should we shift our focus to bike lanes and composting?
There have been no police patrols on the UWS for years because the neighborhood is considered “safe.” LOL
Start attending your precinct meetings.
There is no truth to that statement. The police are on radio runs. I see them all the time. Clearly these businesses did not have alarms, did not have gates, did not have shatter-proof glass, and for cryin’ out loud, why would there be money in the till after closing time? Do none of these folks have safes or remove the cash at night?
Ahhh, I see. It’s the business’s fault for being burglarized. Blame them.
No, but it’s the perpetrators fault. The police don’t burglarize businesses here; so your point is … ?
Couldn’t agree more. No policeman patrolling on foot. Occasionally in their cars. Only the traffic cop (who does nothing) on 79th & West End for roundabout to Highway 7 days a week.
And the alarm systems, no one has ADT alarms anymore?
I can understand not putting up gates because that’s the buildings responsibility, but alarm systems should be necessary and you do get a discount from the insurance company.
Gates are definitely not the buildings’ responsibility. It’s entirely up to a business.
Not true, many building owners down Columbus Avenue required a uniform look. Perhaps they can put gates inside the window of a store by the store owners expense..
It would be helpful if you could provide sources for your claim. You’re confusing a uniform look defined by aesthetics (materials, color, lettering, windows, etc.) with safety features that a landlord cannot require. A landlord can definitely not put gates INSIDE a store without the lessee’s permission AND charge him.
Do you know how many small businesses are struggling? It costs MONEY to put up an electric gate. It’s not so easy by just saying – put up a gate. It’s the city and unfortunately its leaders that have led to this continued decline of safety, shoplifting and burglaries. The small businesses are struggling enough to pay their current bills to keep afloat or have you not seen all the vacant stores?
Metal shutters are not that expensive. They were standard fare for businesses during earlier eras in NYC. Also, how many of these places left cash in the till or electronics out in the open? This entire spree is a classic ‘crime of opportunity.’
Is it still against the law for businesses to not take cash in NYC?
In NYC, quite a few small restaurants/stores/businesses prefer cash due to credit card fees.
Only taking plastic or Venmo is discriminatory.
This is the problem with NY (and America) today. People are so focused on looking for reasons to complain about being discriminated against and offended that they are not focusing on basic problems facing Americans today.
I am a Democrat. I am generally in favor of some level of regulation and taking care of the underprivileged. But telling stores what type of currency they can or cannot accept is government overstepping its bounds.
And to repeat my initial statement – let’s focus on fighting crime, educating our youth, finding jobs and homes for those who do not have them, rather than worrying about issues like this. In an ideal world the government could do all of the above, but they have very clearly proven that they cannot.
“Oh no how could this ever have happened?”
Someone broke into places where there was money, in a city where you need to be unarmed to be a law abiding citizen and where bail reform keeps criminals on the street, and took the money.
“I’m a life long liberal Democrat but….”
We really need to get psst the polarization of this community. Preventing crime, punishing criminals and returning our neighborhood to the safe place that it was just a short time ago is neither Democrat or Republican. It is plain common sense. We have allowed a media driven wedge to divide us on absolutely every issue. This is about our home. We need strong sensible leadership to get this city back on track. I could care less what political party they are affiliated with. Our beautiful neighborhood is deteriorating before our eyes. I thought Mayor Adams, being Ex-NYPD, would step up and get his arms around the crime problem we have, but that hasn’t happened. I’m starting to think that Curtis Sliwa may have gotten more done on that front. Love him or hate him, I felt safer at night on the train when a Guardian Angel was on-board.
Time to change that
Not really. I have no reason to become a far right wing nut job — banning books, restricting my own womb, banning education, and supporting a violent coup d’etat to overthrow the election — just because I believe in law and order. It’s not all one thing or the other. There are multiple issues in life. Storefronts and criminals are but one. I will never sacrifice one thing for the other.
If the Republicans had not swung so far to the right, they likely could have absorbed sensible moderates like you and I. But by behaving in the way you mentioned, they made it impossible. So all of us moderates are stuck without a viable party that really represents us – Democrats are a lot closer to my beliefs so I generally hold my nose and vote for them.
Exactly. I cannot vote for the party of seditious traitors, woman haters, and election and vaccine and virus deniers. However, there are law and order Democrats all over the City. It’s Albany that is the problem. The need to amend or rescind all the anti-police, pro-perpetrator legislation.
And yet these stores are fined if they refuse to accept cash. And folks wonder why they don’t like to keep cash.
You can use a thing called a SAFE and LOCK your valuables up. Not taking cash is illegal (it says ‘all debts public and private’ on every dollar bill) per NYC law and discriminatory.
The laptop stolen is worth more than any amount stolen in this spree.
They can accept cash without leaving it in the register overnight. Don’t these businesses have safes? Don’t they do deposits?
How does leaving the cash in the safe overnight prevent them from getting robbed when they are open during the day?
The cash eventually has to leave the building which puts the owner/employees at risk. It’s very flippant to just tell them to get a safe and physically carry money to a bank. You probably never had to worry about running a business or putting yourself in a risky situation by handling cash.
Well, isn’t leaving it in the till risky? Clearly it is. Clearly, these businesses have something to learn. It’s NYC, not the wilds of Montana.
I think these businesses know more how to run their shops than you and I. There’s always a risk when cash is involved, register or carrying it to the bank. It is very arrogant to tell them what to do – we are talking about a dozen businesses getting into this situation, none of them newbies. I don’t think all of them are naive or think they are in Montana.
It’s under $1,000 perfectly legal.
I know I am from a different era, but in the days when my father ran a tiny family store on Long Island he would empty the register at night, leave it conspicuously open so that it could be seen through the window, and make a ‘night drop’ of the cash bag at the bank. In the morning he picked it up for the day’s business. The idea that shops leave hundreds overnight in a register seems to be a bad strategy. When thieves force open the drawer they also ruin the register which is itself worth several hundred dollars. And yes, many banks on the UWS still offer ‘night deposit’ service.
In my yoooot working at a retail store, the owner, just like in your story, left the register open – figuring (like your family did…) that once a burglar had broken inside the store a locked cash register wouldn’t stop him, and the cost of repair would be pretty high.
However, he didn’t leave the drawers empty, but left a modest amount of money (I’m thinking something like $20) there .
Last night I suggested the UWS is not a crime-ridden, chaotic hellhole. I guess I have to withdraw that. Shall I flee to, maybe, Petal, Mississippi?
I think this is local there was no vehicle used in any of these robberies overnight on Sunday. The 20th precinct is excellent on finding their suspects and probably the most technical and professional Police Department in the world. But store owners have to help on their end and think about putting alarm systems into their stores, Hello!!!!!!
You can add another establishment that was broken into Sunday night/Monday morning.
Saint James Gate
441 Amsterdam Ave, at W. 81st St., New York, NY 10024
Please tell me a bedtime story!
My favorite is the fairy tale about how crime is decreasing on the UWS.
The UWS was worse in the 1980s, but doesn’t mean it can’t go back there. Walk on 83rd between Amsterdam and Columbus and you can still get a feel for how it was in the old days.
Great we’ve got people homing in on one of the blocks that still has supportive/affordable housing in the 80s as a problem without any evidence.
Coincidence that block has a lot of Latino & Black residents? Nope.
Keep that dog whistle in your pocket and out of your mouth. It’s very easy to read between the lines there.
There is no dog whistle here. There was a murder on that block recently. That block also has plenty of white people as well. The UWS in the 1980s had plenty of whites. But you have to have faux progressives who like to troll commenters.
I know this is not a “welcoming” environment but I know there are a lot of our neighbors who think we are all over-reacting. I am increasingly challenged to understand their point of view. I don’t care if they think it was worse 40 years ago. I don’t care if once in a while there is a highly publicized case of the wrong person being arrested. We are now well beyond the tipping point. There needs to be consequences for this type of behavior, both to take the criminals off the street, and to put fear of consequences in the mind of those considering committing crimes.
It is basic psychology – one is more likely to commit a crime if there is a lower likelihood of being caught and/or having a penalty if caught. Right now this fear does not exist.
And please don’t tell me that if there were more social services and affordable housing this would not be happening. I am not denying that those are goals we should be pursuing, but I don’t care how bad your life is, you should not be committing the types of crimes that are happening in our neighborhood.
You ARE over-reacting.
It’s theft. No one was injured. Losses will be covered by insurance. Ask the cops to earn their taxpayer-funded salaries and do basics.
Also, businesses should not create the opportunity for crime by leaving valuables and/or cash visible overnight. Basics of living in any community, suburban, urban or rural.
Losses will only be covered by insurance as long as insurance isn’t cost prohibitive or insurance is willing to cover a certain neighborhood or a certain business. Red flag is an example of the faux progressives here, victim blaming business who are robbed is okay, but victim blaming when it comes to those who are useful for their agenda is not okay. I get the need for criminal justice reform and for better police, but progressives need to understand that the way they treat valid concerns will lead to them losing ALL of the reforms that they fought hard for, some of which are very important.
@red flag: Why blame the victims and not the actual thieves? The businesses did not create a crime of opportunity. They closed for the night and locked their doors. I’m quite certain cash was not left visible, whether in register or not. Having a storefront with visibility to the interior is not an open invitation to have it smashed.
Maybe jobs with livable wages would help. Just asking!
If businesses close due to rampant shoplifting and other crime, then you risk losing retail jobs.
Why we’re in retail Armageddon, and the empty storefronts will continue until crime is under control. Stores that have to lock up their merch are losing money. And today Chase Bank said they are closing a number of 24-hour ATM vestibules around the city because of crime and vagrants. They will now be locked at 10pm. Someone call Kojack!
It’s not smash and grabs driving empty store fronts.
When Kojack was a TV show, ATMs didn’t exist. Banks closed at 5PM, if not 3PM.
Or Baretta! “Don’t do the crime, if you can’t do the time…”
Police nowhere to be found
It’s almost as if they made a deliberate ring around the 20th Precinct Police Station. The precinct ought to make a public statement to reassure the community as to their awareness of the situation and their plan to combat this type of crime. I won’t hold my breath. Just as I won’t hold my breath to see anything but gossiping groups of police on the subway platforms on their cellphones. Useless for public safety.
Lots of readers have identified the things that allow crime to run rampant on the UWS and beyond (nonresponsive and misguided politicians, police not doing their jobs, inability to legally arm yourself, nonfunctioning court system, etc.) I don’t understand why they continue to live here – there are far cheaper and ostensibly safer places to live. What am I missing? (By the way, I’m perfectly happy here.)
We continue to live here because this is our home! We don’t want to live anywhere else, and should not let criminals push us into moving away! What a ridiculous statement! You don’t abandon that which you love. Our city is broken. It can be fixed. We have to give the power to those that will fix it. We do that by voting for the right people (not the “Right” people . . . you know what I mean). If anything, we need to dig our heels in, claim this as our home again and fight for the city we love. Criminals will always move on to the easier target.
What are you missing? We are trying to fix things that are broken iwhereas you don’t care about the place where you live.
Because we have jobs here in specialties not found in those safer, cheaper places
This is distressingly close to the police station. It’s so hard to run a retail business. I’m going to try to show up and buy from all of these places in the next few weeks.
And I’ll pay with a card!
There’s no significance to crimes happening near police stations. This point is often mentioned as if it matters. Cops are inside the station and wouldn’t know if anything is happening even a short distance away.
They build a literal wall of gates and fences around themselves to keep the neighborhood out. I think opening up the precinct would go a long way toward increasing trust.
We need more cops. We need more cameras. We need to hold and arrest people and not release them.
Whatever happened to the cops that supposed to be patrolling the streets on foot that the 20Th Precinct said they were going to do two years ago?
I don’t see the 20Th Precinct patrolling in cars they have to make themselves more visible!!! How about parking on Columbus Avenue and one parking on Amsterdam Avenue another one parking on Broadway during their downtimes? How about patrolling stores with spotlights from their cars like they do in the suburbs. They should be checking out all the stores every few hours during closing time throughout the night!!! What are they doing? I never see them I walk my dog and I never see any cops around.
Not excusing anything about crime, but why do these businesses leave money in a cash register overnight? Only Luke’s Lobster seems to get this simple idea.
Ok, where are the police In all this? Was no one in the nabe awake or roused by the break=in noise and called police? whew.
Time to vote for politicians that follow thru on campaign promises of being tough on crime
All “smash and grab”.
Leave the cash register empty and open & a light on as well, highlighting that fact in an obvious way for would-be perpetrators to see from the street PLUS they won’t be doing who knows what in your store in the dark, but will be well lit for the cameras you’ll install, Mr./Ms. Business Owner; lock up laptops & other obvious valuables when you leave at night.
All pretty basic precautions.
I’m the son of a former family small business owner/operator and no: there’s nothing like getting that call from the police in the middle of the night that ends in: “…so you’d better get down here.”
A few years ago I thought the pandemic was the main cause of rising crime. As time has gone on and crime keeps rising, I think it’s the progressives’ changing the justice system. Those progressives include Alton Bragg, the DA, and your state legislators and city council person.
“Violent criminals are bad people.” This is a simple statement that our elected representatives can’t bring themselves to say. It tells you all you need to know about the source of this problem.
Now I have 8 new businesses to support.
You’re gonna be a busy person!
Good for you 💙 i’m also doing the same, but I don’t drink… i’ll just buy a round of drinks for everybody at the bar and wish them the best!
And dont forget , the hideous sheds and scaffolding ( I’m an advocate of outdoor sidewalk dining without sheds and rapid turnover of scaffolding)which are in front of each of these establishments except Spiga give very nice cover from street patrols
This is absolutely key. So much scaffolding and all it does is lead to vagrancy and a run down look
Why would a business owner leave cash in the register at night? I worked years ago for a friend who had a gift shop on Amsterdam Avenue and the money was always deposited each night. I came to work one morning and found another emplpyee was already there sweeping up glass and talking to the cops. Merchandise was taken was taken, but no cash.
Terrible news. I feel for all those businesses. Obviously a team on a mission to burgle as many places as they could. But I don’t think you can blame a lack of police, that’s misguided. Even if one or two cops are walking the streets , these happened blocks and blocks apart from each other, over many hours.
However, what happened to the days when storefronts had a protective gate over their front door to protect against this kind of thing? or a pulldown metal protective covering? Sounds like that would have done the trick here.
Wendy – locking up the bad guys would have done the trick. Stop placing responsibility on the hardworking small business owners.
I went into one of the bars that were burglarized last weekend and asked if given the crime situation they would prefer payment by credit card or cash. To my surprise, both owners said that whatever I prefer is fine with them. This may be because credit card companies hold back a small percentage of the money due to the bar. It might also possibly have something to due with the fact that no record is created that can be used to determine income tax due
upon arrest, perp will be immediately released on his own recognizance.
And if s/he’s a juvenile, s/he won’t be arrested at all. Expect lots more crime by juveniles as crime gangs take advantage of this new progressive gift to them.
What is wrong with people??? These are small businesses serving the community.
As an UWS small business owner, please know that it is expensive to put in gates, it is expensive to put in shatterproof glass, it is expensive to put in an alarm system. We are in an oncoming recession, supply costs are through the roof and I am dismayed and upset at people blaming the store owners. We are trying to get through the affects of the pandemic still happening, the changing world of online orderers and inflation.
Do not blame the stores, do not blame the police – they have been miracle workers for assisting us – blame the local politicians who don’t even speak of the burglaries and crimes and keep our neighborhood and city in a downward spiral. None of your small businesses feel the politicians care. We are at our wits’ end.
Is it expensive to put in a drop safe in the back and bolt it to the floor?
Completely understand your end of the business and let me tell you I would never want to be in it.
Take precaution, leave your cash register door open at night with no cash in it just like they did in the old days… Put a sign in your window…”No Cash in Cash Register”…. just like they did back in the 70s when all the cars had signs in their window when parked on the street, “No Radio”!
IT WORKS!!!!
The best to you all!
The politicians don’t want small businesses there in my opinion. They say they do, but the only types of businesses they want there are what real estate developers and investors who are politically involved tell them is okay. Don’t be fooled by the smokescreen that progressives put on with refusing to take real estate contributions. Do a deep dive into Mitchell Draizin, a real estate investor involved in the New Leaders Council and Housing Rights Initiative and other progressive causes.
Reading all these comments you would think it is the owners fault. How about liberal judges that dismiss crime as a cost of doing business in the city. As previous administrations have said, turn a blind eye to petty crime and soon you have real criminals. Business is struggling, just look at the empty stores.
Believe it or not, there are a lot more police officers on foot patrolling the area. I see them all the time near the oft-shoplifted Lululemon, and Arcteryx stores further south on Columbus. But unfortunately, nowhere near the small businesses that probably really need it. Echoing many others, it’s not the police, they’re doing a great job. It’s the politicians and judges who are allowing these criminals to get away with these crimes with little to no consequences.
Before suggesting business owners make a daily cash deposit, google Abe Lebewohl.
Sadly, there are no easy answers here, but fortunately no one was injured.
I remember S Lind saying how cops on foot patrol are triggering and traumatizing.
NEWSFLASH
This is what happens when we listen to people like her.
Who is she ????
Who is S. Lind and why would anyone care what she said?
Thank you to Mayor De Blasio, Gale Brewer, and all the NYC and UWS elected representatives who have worked hard over the years to give support and comfort to the petty criminals and bad actors who have made the Upper West Side unlivable. Why not rob a store or sell drugs when you know the outcome will be a couple nights in jail before being released? Why not risk breaking the law when the neighborhood is so downtrodden and full of homeless that nobody will notice? For a brief period the UWS was a great place to live.
How you vote matters