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Penticton cafe bounces back from break-in

Late Friday night a robber broke the glass door and stole the cafe’s cash box.
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The broken glass door at Busy Beans is already being replaced after Friday night’s break-in, and the play cafe will be open as usual on Tuesday. (Brennan Phillips - Western News)

By Brennan Phillips

Western News Staff

It’s been a rough first year for Busy Beans Play Cafe.

In June, a day after they opened, the business next door flooded the building. On Nov. 23, a robber broke their front door and made off with their cashbox and the shelf it was bolted to.

Late Friday night, owner Kim Wade was woken up by her phone and an alert from her security company. She turned on her security cameras connection with an app on her phone.

“I literally watched the whole thing unfold in front of my eyes,” said Wade.

The robber used a rock from the landscaping business next to the cafe to break the glass front door. Passing across the shards on the floor, he made his way straight over to the cash box.

“We have our lockbox all bolted in under the counter,” said Wade. “So he tried to pull it, and he couldn’t, so then he just reefed it hard enough that the whole shelf on the cabinet came out.”

The next day, Busy Beans had a private party booked for a pair of four-year old twins. Wade and business partner Tracey Wiseman spent the night cleaning up the glass instead of closing for the next day.

“We weren’t about to cancel anybody’s party, that’s what we’re about,” said Wade. “We’re here for the kids.”

Read More: More than just a playground, Busy Beans Play Cafe to help parents and Children

With the glass being replaced, the Busy Beans Play Cafe will be back up and running for their regular Tuesday to Saturday hours tomorrow. They will be down to just cash and credit until they can get a replacement for their point-of-sale system. Even with the costs and damages, Wade has some sympathy for the robber.

“It’s getting to be Christmas, we know people struggle. We can only imagine what this person that broke-in, we don’t know what their story is,” said Wade. “We feel for that person too, that something is going on in their life that they felt the need to break into a child’s facility and steal, literally, change.”

Despite the break-in, Busy Beans isn’t going to be closing or slowing down any time soon.

“This isn’t going to stop us,” said Wade. “We came into this, for the community, for the kids in the community. We have a pretty faithful clientele that comes in, that are very much becoming family now. We won’t let one person break us.”

To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.

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