Early Thursday morning in Andersonville, owners and employees of Defloured: A Gluten Free Bakery were disheartened to learn someone smashed the glass door of the small business and burglarized it.
A sign outside and on social media informed customers that no one was injured, but they needed to close for the day to clean up.
Chicago Police said it happened around 3 a.m. and no one is in custody.
“Small business is not just the backbone of our community, it’s who we are," said Andersonville Chamber of Commerce marketing director Charlie Wein. “This is the sort of thing where we all like to have emergency funds for things that might happen in our life, but for a small business this could be the difference between making a week and not.”
He said small businesses don't always have the same opportunity and budget larger box stores have for losses and theft.
“For a lot of those big box businesses, they have loss built into their budgets," said Wein. He suggests businesses create a closing plan, go cashless or empty the cash register each night to dissuade crime of opportunity.
Brew Brew Coffee and Tea in Avondale recently bounced back from a similar crime.
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Last week a man threw a brick through their door, jumped the counter and took off with the cash register. According to owner Christian Medrano the register had $150 inside. However, after fixing the door and losing out on hours while they cleaned up, the small business is out closer to $900.
It's the second time they experienced a burglary in three months. Now they're making changes.
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"No cash at all," said owner Christian Medrano. "We're not going to be doing any cash but we can do credit card, we can do apple pay.”
He said the community has graciously supported their business and new payment model since the break-in.
“Old customers that we haven’t seen since the pandemic, or customers that moved out of the neighborhood, they came back just to say hi and everything, which was great," he said.
Medrano plans to meet with State Representative Will Guzzardi next week to discuss how small businesses can be better protected in the city.
Police say no one is in custody yet for either crime.
