Windows smashed 8 times in 6 months: Vancouver businesses fed up with rampant vandalism
Multiple businesses are speaking out after being repeatedly targeted by people smashing their store windows – an issue they say is taking up more time and money than they can afford to spare.
In many cases, the businesses say vandalism appears to be the only motive.
At Dollar Tree, a store on East Hastings Street just west of Nanaimo Street, people have broken glass windows and doors eight different times in the last six months.
“It happens a lot. There’s a couple of different people but there was one guy that did it three times in a row,” said Cathy McEwen, the store’s manager.
Most of the incidents have been captured on video by a camera mounted on the other side of the street – and most of the time, the person smashing the window simply wanders off without even attempting to enter the store.
That was the case for the most recent act of vandalism, which happened around 5:45 on Saturday morning.
”We have just plain old vandalism where they just break the window for fun, apparently,” McEwen said. “It’s frustrating because it takes away my time for doing my job for one thing. It also cost a lot of money to replace windows, and it’s hard to get glass right now.”
At Stefano Ricci, a clothing store on West Georgia Street, someone also smashed the glass on Saturday morning.
Theft may have been the motive for this incident which happened around 3:40 a.m. when a man pulled out a hammer and began smashing the glass door.
Security video shows the same person peering in the store’s windows about 20 minutes earlier.
The heavy-duty glass shattered but did not completely give way and after several heavy swings, the would-be thief gives up and walks away.
“I’m just so glad that he didn’t make it through. I know there have been many attempts and we have very strong glass which I’m very grateful for,” said Manuel Bernaschek, the store’s president and co-owner.
He said since 2018, people have attempted to smash the windows about once a year.
Both he and McEwen say they report each incident to Vancouver police.
“I think the police are stretched as far as they can, so I don’t know what else they can do. If ever you call the non-emergency line for something, it’s impossible to get through,” Bernaschek said.
He says small business owners have been dealing with a lot lately, even without attempted break-ins and vandalism.
On top of a slowdown due to COVID, Bernaschek says new parking regulations on Georgia Street have also hurt his business.
It’s something he hopes will be alleviated by a new arrangement he made with the neigbouring Paradox Hotel that will allow his customers to use the hotel’s valet parking service for free.
Just as he’s dealt with that problem, now he’s worried about more attempted break-ins and he wants people to know that a lot of businesses downtown may appear to be part of large corporations when in fact they are locally owned and operated.
“People see these shops and they think it’s a big corporation behind it and they don’t think the owner could be a local small business owner like myself,” Bernaschek said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Saskatchewan households will continue to receive carbon tax rebate: Trudeau
Households in Saskatchewan will continue to receive Canada Carbon Rebate payments, despite the province refusing to remit natural gas levies to the federal government, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
'We hoped for this day, but we were scared that it would not never ever come because it took so long.' That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.
Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko won't play in Game 2
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
Pedestrian, baby injured after stroller struck and dragged by vehicle in Squamish, B.C.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.
North Bay doctor accused of assaulting patient, threatening another
A North Bay doctor is facing charges after allegedly assaulting a patient with a weapon and threatening another person at the hospital, police say.