The sound of breaking glass shattered the early morning quiet of Agoura Hills last week when four businesses on Canwood Street were broken into on separate nights.
Nail Blvd and Urbane Cafe were burglarized early on Aug. 30. A few nights later, on Sept. 4, thieves broke into Wildflour Bakery and Cafe, and Currying Flavors. The four businesses are in the same shopping center.
The criminals gained entry to the properties by shattering front glass doors and windows. No money was reported stolen as none of the businesses had left accessible cash inside.
Linda Huynh, the manager of the nail salon, said her business mostly uses credit and debit cards.
“We don’t have any money (on site),” Huynh said.
“Some things were broken but we didn’t lose anything. They did $1,300 damage by smashing the door, but we got the glass replaced within a few hours.”
Urbane Cafe was also broken into on Aug. 30, but nothing there was taken either. Damage to the business was repaired within hours of the crime.
Wildflour Bakery and Cafe, a short walk from Nail Blvd, had its front door smashed several days later. Owner Greg Yulish said the business’ security cameras captured footage of two hooded and masked individuals breaking into the shop.
“They took a sledgehammer to the safe and slammed it like 10 or 15 times,” Yulish said. “The guy actually hit his friend with the sledgehammer by accident while he was trying to get it open.”
Yulish said he was alerted to the break-in around 2 a.m. Sept. 4, when a delivery driver called him to say the store’s front door had been shattered.
The business owner said he plans to install additional security cameras inside the restaurant, as well as an alarm system.
Luis Garcia, manager of Currying Flavors, said he’s talking with the business owner about changing the restaurant’s security system. The business had been open less than two weeks when the break-ins occurred.
“Thank God nothing was stolen,” Garcia said. “They just made a mess. The more important thing was no one was here when it happened. That would have been no good. There was no damage to the facility other than a smashed window.”
Repairs to the business cost $1,500.
Meanwhile, nerves are rattled.
“I don’t want to say anything negative against the sheriff’s department . . . (but) for someone to be able to break into that many stores and nobody notices anything, and they’ve got alarms and there’s no sheriff’s response, there’s a problem,” Agoura Hills resident Gary Mason said.