Burglars bash their way into Northside Drive businesses, stealing cash

ATLANTA - Atlanta Police are investigating a number of business break-ins Wednesday morning on Northside Drive. 

Expensive glass doors were shattered, and cash drawers, safes and registers were stolen.

Crooks went door-to-door, from House of Lacquer, to Joinus Cleaners, to Grecian Gyro, and smashed their way through the front doors. The businesses are located in the Berkley Heights Shopping Center on Northside Drive.

"I've noticed more break-ins lately, but this is terrible. They're working so hard, I just can't even imagine it," said Ashley who is a regular customer at House of Lacquer.

An employee of one of the businesses told FOX 5 there were two guys that broke in around 5:45 Wednesday morning. They worked in tandem, each wore just one glove, as if they shared a pair. A third person was in a getaway car.

"The fact you'd be brazen enough to come into somebody's business and just take, and just destroy," said Hugh Clarke.

Clarke manages Specialty Engraving Inc. in the same shopping center. His business was spared, but he feels the pain his neighbors are going through.

"It's a tight community. We try to support one another, but when stuff like this happens, it really sets you back," said Clarke.

"I was hoping it wasn't what I thought it was, but then I saw all the other people who had been broken into," said Joseph Montanta, a regular customer at Joinus Cleaners. 

Montana says when he saw the shops had been broken into, he worried about the owner, Kim.

"Thank God she wasn't there already or in the back, it could have been a very violent thing," said Montana. 

"It seems like it's twisted, the bad guys are getting away with stuff, and the good guys are having to pay for it," said Clarke. 

Some businesses have now made the decision to only accept credit and debit cards, hoping it will deter break-ins in the future.