SEATTLE — At Queen Anne Dispatch, co-owner Sabrina Rinderle is working to bounce back after two bad weeks.
A window and a door are boarded up at her business.
"They tried to break the other door and the side window, but they weren't able to get in,” said Rinderle.
However, the week before that security cameras captured someone smashing their way through the door.
"That person actually got in and took over $20,000 worth of merchandise,” Rinderle said.
She said that's the wholesale value, but when you tack on the timing of it, it's costing her even more.
"We'll most likely recuperate the money, the wholesale loss, but not the sales during this time. Our time during December is how we can continue for a full year,” she explained.
Other businesses are feeling it too. At Honed, in Seattle's Madrona neighborhood, the owner posted about the jewelry business being ransacked this month, with inventory taken at a critical time. On a fundraising page, the owner wrote, "the holiday season is when most small businesses do about 75% of their sales."
"My husband has been here in the middle of the night the last two nights because we can't even sleep,” Rinderle told customers on Friday.
"I'm positive to a fault. Endlessly hopeful. I mean, I love this city. And so, we'll continue on, and we'll do what we can to protect our store and the merchandise. But as far as hoping what the city is going to do, I'm at a loss,” she said.
Rinderle and other Oueen Anne business owners plan to meet with a Seattle city council member next month to discuss their safety concerns.