ST. LOUIS — A new downtown restaurant is cleaning up and boarding up its front window after a smash-and-grab robbery early Tuesday morning.
Hot Pizza Cold Beer opened in early February on Washington Avenue.
“Last night, the alarm went off about 3 a.m. Someone threw a rock through the window and ran off with our empty registers,” co-owner Mike Johnson said.
In restaurant security camera footage, you could see a thief break through the business' front window and go through a lot of trouble to steal some practically empty registers and take off.
“They're just empty metal boxes. Probably more of a pain to carry around and smash open, than the amount of money (inside), just some change,” general manager Gabe Alvarado said.
Johnson also owns two other restaurants on Washington Avenue and more across the Metro area. He said smash and grabs happen everywhere.
“Sugarfire across the street (has) been open 11 years, and it’s never happened once. Hi-Pointe, it's never happened and we've been there five years. We're here at McCausland Hi-Pointe and our first few nights when we opened eight years ago, the same thing happened. That's why we put that security van out front,” Johnson said.
Ward 8 Alderwoman Cara Spencer said the break-in is disheartening.
“Downtown is central to the success or failure of our region. It has to be a place where businesses and the people who live there thrive. Safety is paramount,” she said.
Johnson made light of the situation on Instagram, calling it their new take-out window garnering a lot of community support.
“The window’s already boarded up, it's going be replaced tomorrow. It's going to cost a little money. The whole neighborhood's been eating pizza, so it's been great,” Johnson said.
Alvarado said it’s unfortunate this happened, but it’s not going to stop them from doing what they love in the city they love.
“If you want to be part of the revitalization effort of downtown St. Louis, there's a certain amount of risk involved in that, but that's okay because it's worth it. We've got to do something to make downtown a place where people want to be and as we do that, I think that can only improve the atmosphere down here,” Alvarado said.
Unfortunately, they're not the only ones, two stores down the Dollar General Express had a similar incident that happened last week.
Johnson said the window is going to cost around $1,000 to replace.