THUNDER BAY – The owners of a north side coffee shop that suffered a break-in on Tuesday say the incident speaks to troubling social issues in the city, but remain optimistic police will solve the case.
Co-owners Alan Forbes and Gary Mack said they’ll also be providing evidence in court related to a similar act of vandalism that occurred in February, after police laid charges against a suspect.
Forbes said they became aware of Tuesday’s break-in after receiving a call from police around 6 a.m. on Tuesday.
They arrived to find a window that had been smashed with a cinder block, but it appeared the perpetrator had simply grabbed a few baked goods through the window without entering the store or causing further damage.
“It could be a lot worse,” said Mack. “You just don’t know what to be prepared for — people could get in here and do a lot of damage. Luckily, that didn’t happen — the person just escaped with two cookies in their hand and left us with a broken window.”
Still, Forbes said, the break-in comes at a cost – and mounting frustration after a number of similar incidents over the past few years, including an incident in which a rock was thrown through the same window during another break-in in February.
“It’s really frustrating, because somebody might assume a small business has insurance,” he said. “Well, we can’t go through our insurance, because it’s just too expensive, so we end up paying this out of our pocket.”
“But like Gary said, it could have been so much worse. A broken window and a couple of cookies is not so bad.”
The couple was also buoyed by an outpouring of support from hundreds of residents on social media after they posted about the incident on social media.
“It quickly negates any negative feeling you have, because any time we look at our social media, it’s just all positive,” Forbes said. “How can you be angry after looking at that?”
“People have been amazingly kind to us,” Mack agreed. “We’re very grateful.”
For Mack, who finished a close second in October’s mayoral race on a platform highlighting issues of poverty, mental health, and addiction, the incident also highlights concerns over a shortage of supports in the city.
“I think it speaks to just the desperation of people, that there’s somebody hungry in the night breaking into our window because he sees a couple of cookies sitting on the counter,” he said. “That to me is really sad, and we have a lot of compassion for that.”
A spokesperson for the Thunder Bay Police Service said the force had dispatched an officer to the scene shortly after 6 a.m. on Tuesday and continues to investigate.
The pair had words of praise for police efforts to investigate the incident, as well as last February’s break-in in which a rock was thrown through the shop’s window.
They reported a suspect has been charged in that case, and they’ve been subpoenaed to appear in court in the new year.
“They did a fantastic job, because with that last break-in, I didn’t think there was enough evidence for them to find the guy, but they did,” said Forbes. “And this time we got a very good, clear picture of the guy who came through the window, so I’m pretty confident they’ll find this guy as well.”
The business has had security cameras since opening, and Mack called similar acts of vandalism and break-ins “pretty common” for businesses in the area.
The homophobic letter the business received around the same time as February’s break-in had provoked particular concern, since it suggested the rock incident had been a consequence of the business’s LGBT ownership.
The couple said while the letter had raised questions about the motives behind break-ins and vandalism, they now believe it was an isolated incident.
“It doesn’t feel like a hate crime to me — it just feels like a poor person in a desperate state,” Mack said of Tuesday’s break-in.
Going forward, Forbes said the business will be compelled to take more steps to protect itself.
“We’re thinking about beefing up security. We really hoped we didn’t have to, but apparently we’re going to.”
