The downtown Hamilton community was shaken this week after a string of break-ins targeted small business owners on the Eastern border of the International Village neighbourhood.

Local retailer VintageSoulGeek was the first to be broken into early Wednesday morning, followed by a break in at Café Oranje early Thursday morning, and then Vagabond Saints early Friday morning.

VintageSoulGeek owners Connie and Nik Bulajic received a phone call from the police Wednesday morning. When they arrived at the store, they noticed the door was smashed and the cash drawer was taken. The owners are out a total of $1200 in stolen cash and damage repairs.

It sucks to be broken into… but it’s awesome to feel the support. Xoxoxo #hamont pic.twitter.com/vR2OFtgU1U — VintageSoulGeek (@vintagesoulgeek) November 21, 2019

VintageSoulGeek is a vintage boutique with items from the late 1800s to the 1990s. The store is famous in the community as one of film director Guillermo Del Toro’s favourite places to buy film props when visiting the city.

The business owners remained closed all day on Wednesday and replaced the glass overnight. Apart from some missing decals on the door, VintageSoulGeek is back open and operating normal business hours.

Further east on King Street, Café Oranje saw a similar situation with their business the following day.

Café owner Mina Falcone arrived to the store in the morning only to find the front door smashed. The cafe had to postpone opening while figuring out a temporary repair job.

Temporary repairs are done and we're OPEN for business! Stop in for a visit, we'd love to see you! @ Cafe Oranje https://t.co/Y6O9plGdr2 — Cafe Oranje Hamilton (@CafeOranjeHam) November 21, 2019

According to Falcone, security footage showed a person hanging around the front of the cafe and neighbouring shop JH Gordon Books at around 3:30 am. The perpetrator looked in the windows for about 15 minutes before throwing a rock through the door of the café. Luckily there was minimal loss as the individual was in the store for less than a minute.

Later in the morning Café Oranje was able to open after cleaning the mess and started everyday business without a front door. Luckily, hot drinks and soups are their specialty, so patrons were able to stay warm.

Not even 30 metres away from the cafe, the owners of nearby tattoo parlour and nail salon Vagabond Saints arrived to their store Friday at 4:40 am after the alarm company had contacted them. Their shop was the next target with the front door smashed according to their Twitter.

4:40am our shop was the next to be broken into. It’s been an hour and a half since we called the police. Still no sign of them. pic.twitter.com/xqtRW0dVt9 — Vagabond Saints™ (@Vagabondsaints) November 22, 2019

The latest break-in lead to the International Village BIA issuing an alert Friday morning about the incident: “Over the last 3 nights we have seen 3 of our businesses broken into through smashed doors. Some have been robbed of money and other valuables.”

The alert goes on to say, “The BIA is doing all we can to advocate behind the scenes to try to get patrol down here and address this upsetting situation. We will continue to push for support from the City of Hamilton on this.”

The International BIA urges area members to call city councillor Jason Farr to ask for more policing in the area. You too can help out by calling 905-546-2711 or emailing [email protected]

If you have any information on any of these incidents, please contact Hamilton Police at 905-546-4925 or attend your nearest police station.

Lead photo courtesy of @cafeoranjeham.