String of break-ins puts west-end Toronto shop owners on high alert

A wave of break-ins has put some shop owners in Toronto's west end on high alert, and police have released images of the two people they believe are responsible for six break-ins on New Year's Eve.

In a news release Tuesday, police said a man and a woman went to six businesses in the Queen Street West and Ossington Avenue area on Dec. 31 between 1:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m.

Police said the man used a rock to break the front door of the businesses and targeted the cash tills, while the woman remained outside as a lookout and used her backpack to hide the stolen property.

Police did not identify the businesses but local establishments are rallying around them, according to an owner and a manager of shops on Roncesvalles Avenue that were broken into recently.

"Everyone gets together in these kinds of situations because everyone can feel your pain as a small business," Jonathan Larrad, owner of the Spanish Pig, a gourmet food shop, said in an interview on Tuesday.

Larrad said his business was hit late Friday or early Saturday. The thieves smashed the front glass door, made their way to the cash register, got about $150 to $200 in cash and took the entire point of sale system, he said, adding they weren't interested in the store's products.

"They took the screen, cash register, and another screen — all parts of my point of sale — grabbed it, went back the same way, breaking some bottles on the way out, leaving glass smashed everywhere," Larrad said.

"The moment you don't have a point of sale and you have a boarded up door, it does unfortunately put off some potential customers."

The business has been boarded up since the break-in, but Larrad said he hopes to reopen Wednesday. There will be no cash left in the register going forward and he'll be installing window security gates.

The experience has left him feeling unsettled and with extra security costs, however.

"It's very, very disheartening. It just gives you a very bad taste in your mouth. Any break-in, be it residential or commercial, it just leaves you feeling more vulnerable," he said.

Jennifer Hall, manager of Mabel's Bakery, said shop owners are wondering who will be next.

Her shop was hit early on Jan. 2 at about 12:20 a.m., but the thieves didn't take anything. She found "a whole bunch of glass and a big rock at the back of the store," she said. Businesses on either side were open at the time, she added.

"There's always a bit of a sense of violation when someone's been in your space," she said.