A Boba Guys store in the Mission District of San Francisco was broken into on Monday night for the third time this year.
Andrew Chau, the co-founder of the boba chain, posted a photo of the shop along with videos showing the piles of shattered glass surrounding the front of the building.
Although nothing was stolen from the shop, the owners must now pay to fix the shop windows for the third time.
It was less than a month ago, on October 13, when the store was burgled in the early hours of the morning by thieves who smashed the windows of the shop and took off with the cash box, Mission Local reported. They also experienced another break-in earlier in June.
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Chau has released an official statement on his Instagram account, comparing the city of San Francisco to “Gotham” and stating that it was “time we take our city back.”
“People, especially other small businesses, wanted us to speak out more since the last break in. We all know property crimes are skyrocketing in SF,” the co-founder wrote.
“Our system is broken. Going after one criminal isn’t going to fix the larger issue. We all know about the growing divide between the Have and Have Nots— in SF, in LA, and many major cities with massive income disparity.
“It’s funny, because as a lower-middle income kid from an immigrant family, I’ve always identified with the Have Nots. I still do. We do not antagonize others for our problems. The cops are doing all they can. We know SF leaders are trying to address it as well. It’s not for the lack of initiative or effort.”
According to Chau, the store will likely have to put up metal gates and has proposed the idea of setting up CCTV cameras in the area.
“With every break-in, it is creating a new normal. The new norm leads to a more vigilant generation, less sympathetic to larger systemic issues,” he said.
“It will then lead to a downward spiral of Prisoner’s Dilemma where no one trusts each other and we are stuck in a dance of finger-pointing and victimhood.”
Since he published the statement to his Instagram account, Chau has been praised for his positive outlook and reaction to a repetition of events.
“You’ll see us wearing the cape made out of our paper napkins and bamboo boba straw in our utility belt. A little boba shop can stir shit up,” he wrote. “We did it for an industry… we are sure we can do it for a city.”
