UPTOWN — Six businesses in Uptown have been burglarized in just over a week, and at least four of the targets were Asian restaurants.
The six burglaries had one or more people break a store window before taking money from inside, according to the Police Department. Four of the businesses were Asian restaurants in Uptown, while the other two were unnamed businesses in the neighborhood’s Asia on Argyle district.
Overnight Monday, someone broke into Immm Rice & Beyond, 4949 N. Broadway, owner Dew Suriyawan said.
Security cameras captured a person wearing a mask break a window of the restaurant with a rock about 1:30 a.m. Monday, Suriyawan said. The person ran in and stole hundreds of dollars from the cash register before running out. The break-in took about 15 seconds, the business owner said.
Two Asian restaurants in the strip mall at Sheridan Road and Lawrence Avenue were also broken into at the end of last week, police and neighbors said.
About 3:30 a.m. Friday, two men broke into the front door of Nhu Lan Bakery & Sandwiches, 4810 N. Sheridan Road, and stole money out of the cash register, police said.
Between Thursday evening and Friday morning, one person broke into the front door of China Cafe, 4818 N. Sheridan Road, and broke the cash register open but found it was empty, police said. The burglar left without stealing anything, police said.
Also during that time span, a business in the 1000 block of West Argyle Street was burglarized, police said in a community alert. Another business in that block of the Asia on Argyle district was burglarized overnight Feb. 13, police said.
Block Club was not able to immediately identify which Argyle Street businesses were burglarized.
Between Feb. 12-14, Hunan Egg Roll King at 4204 N. Broadway was burglarized when someone broke into the restaurant through a window and took money from the tip jar, a police spokesperson said.
A neighbor launched a GoFundMe for the owners of Hunan Egg Roll King, with neighbors raising $745 for the business owners.
No arrests have been made in any of the cases, which remain under investigation, police said.
Monday’s break-in marks the third time Immm Rice & Beyond has been burglarized, Suriyawan said.
The first two times — three and four years ago — hurt because the restaurant was still young, Suriyawan said. Since then, he has improved his security and video systems. Those systems caught the burglary but weren’t enough to thwart the incident.
“I’m surprised because we are on the busy street,” Suriyawan said. “It’s hard to know. Over here, there are a lot of businesses.”
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