By Brennan Phillips
Western News Staff
It鈥檚 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.
鈥淚 literally watched the whole thing unfold in front of my eyes,鈥� 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.
鈥淲e have our lockbox all bolted in under the counter,鈥� said Wade. 鈥淪o he tried to pull it, and he couldn鈥檛, so then he just reefed it hard enough that the whole shelf on the cabinet came out.鈥�
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.
鈥淲e weren鈥檛 about to cancel anybody鈥檚 party, that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e about,鈥� said Wade. 鈥淲e鈥檙e here for the kids.鈥�
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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.
鈥淚t鈥檚 getting to be Christmas, we know people struggle. We can only imagine what this person that broke-in, we don鈥檛 know what their story is,鈥� said Wade. 鈥淲e feel for that person too, that something is going on in their life that they felt the need to break into a child鈥檚 facility and steal, literally, change.鈥�
Despite the break-in, Busy Beans isn鈥檛 going to be closing or slowing down any time soon.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 going to stop us,鈥� said Wade. 鈥淲e 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鈥檛 let one person break us.鈥�
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