By Gus Saltonstall
An Upper West Side business on a bustling block was robbed at gunpoint midday on Wednesday, a police spokesperson confirmed to West Side Rag.
The robbery took place around 11:25 a.m. within 118 West 72nd Street, between Columbus and Amsterdam, when a man wearing a yellow face mask walked in and demanded that a store employee give him money from the cash register, while flashing a gun, police said.
An employee handed over $2,000 in cash and the man ran from the store, before jumping into a car parked outside and fleeing the scene, NYPD added.
There are two businesses that share the 118 West 72nd Street address, one is a deli and smoke shop, while the other is a barbershop. Police did not confirm which of the two businesses suffered the robbery.
We will update this story when we learn more.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
“Police did not confirm which of the two businesses suffered the robbery.”
I shall venture a guess…
Another weed store robbed. At gunpoint. In the middle of the day. At one of the busiest spots in all of the UWS. Just great.
the illegal weed shops have all been closed. theres no need for them, plenty of delivery services with better prices available.
Just the beginning. . . .
of what
$2000 grand is a lot of cash to keep in a register, even if you’re in the kind of business that needs to make a lot of change for cash purchases.
Haven’t heard of a drop safe bolted to the floor? Harder (not impossible) to steal and employees don’t necessarily have the combination.
Or, of course, it could have been an inside job, and the robbers were tipped off as to when the “barber shop” had a couple of grand in the register.
Way to blame the victim there. . .
You realize who the victim was, right?
😂
Touch grass.
I bet their getaway was aided by the new mid-block crosswalk!
explain?
A barbershop and a smoke shop. Gee, I wonder which one it was….
A “smoke shop” has to take care of a surprisingly large number of people to avoid shutdown.
There was also an armed robbery at the 86th street station this evening.
I don’t think the “smoke shop” is an illegal weed store. They have a brisk lottery business which would account for the cash being held on site.
But why wasn’t the cash mostly in a drop safe?
These weed stores and smoke shops bring nothing but trouble and crime and troublemakers.
Couldn’t be more wrong. A quick assumption on your part. I lived next to that “smoke shop” for fifteen years. It’s not a weed store and never has been. It’s a bodega with hard working guys trying to make a living in NYC. I got to know the previous owner and got to know the guys he sold it to. All good people. He had a big lottery business. Sucks he got robbed. Maybe an inside job with that amount of cash.
Is it just me, or does every weed shop get robbed frequently? I guess that’s what happens when you attract the wrong crowd and legalize weed.
The new mayor will decriminalize these types of crimes once in office so they wont be reported after this year.
118 W. 72nd St. is the store on the left of this picture it’s a lottery of store, they took the lotto money!
That’s a big deal!!! It’s quite obvious which store they took it from.
Like I said, they’ll find them with the neighborhood and street cams.
what sort of business would have 2k in the cash box?