Several Tacoma small businesses vandalized, costing thousands of dollars in broken glass
Tacoma business owners woke up to broken glass last week following a vandalism spree near the downtown area.
Campfire Coffee Co. and Happy Belly Eatery & Juice Bar on Market Street were two of the businesses vandalized Feb. 5. At least six businesses were hit, Jennifer Johnson, the owner of Happy Belly told The News Tribune.
Johnson said it was the eighth time her business has been struck by vandals since she opened in 2014. In the latest case, she said, her surveillance system showed a masked man broke one of the panels in her door.
“We came to open, and I saw the safety glass outside on the sidewalk as I was coming from the parking lot, and I just thought, ‘Please don’t let it be one of the great big windows’ because those are thousands of dollars to replace,” she said.
Johnson said the glass replacement will cost around $460.
“I mean I have a budget every month and replacing glass is definitely not in that budget,” she said.
Campfire Coffee Co. also was struck Feb. 5 and again on Sunday, Quincy Henry, who owns the shop with his wife, told The News Tribune. This is the first time the business has been vandalized since opening in 2020.
“Wednesday morning we get a text message from the opener at our shop that the window and door has been attempted to be, like, broken into. They had busted it open,” Henry said.
Henry said he learned other stores in town got hit as well, and that he and his wife planned to move on.
“Then Saturday morning we get another text from our opener that the big window in the middle got busted, like somebody was trying to get in,” he said. “That one felt it was a targeted attack.”
Henry said the vandals were not able to get in either time.
“It does feel invasive, you know, it feels targeted, it feels personal at that point,” he said.
Henry said the attempted break-ins felt weird because there is nothing valuable to take.
“You really want to get in here and get some cookies and biscotti and maybe a couple bags of beans, like I don’t understand,” he said.
Henry filed a report with the Tacoma Police Department on the second attempted break-in. Since he filed the report, Henry said, he noticed through his security cameras there have been more police patrols in the area.
TPD spokeswoman officer Shelbie Boyd told The News Tribune that an investigator has not yet been assigned to the second attempted break-in at Campfire. She noted there was no video or information about a possible suspect which could help the investigation.
Henry said the repairs will most likely be around $5,000. To help mitigate those costs, a GoFundMe was started with about $19,200 raised.
“[Community response] has been pretty overwhelmingly positive. We were hoping to get $3,500 on the GoFundMe,” he said. “We appreciate the way the community has stepped up for us and also now we are really excited in paying that forward. We got way more than we need.”
Henry said Campfire wants to use the excess to lean into its mission to get people outside and making outdoor activities more accessible for low-income families.
“We definitely want to let the community know that our plans are to do some good [with the extra funds],” he said.
Henry said that it helps Campfire Coffee Company to see more people hanging around the shop and supporting the business.
At Happy Belly Eatery, Johnson said that the biggest thing the public could do is make sure people are buying from small locally owned businesses in the community.
