Coffee shop customers help each other after robbers steal registers
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- In just under two minutes, two crooks left behind $1,500 in damage at Golden Bagels and Coffee in the Heights.
"Two men came to the door and smashed the door," said owner Gregg Goldstein.
Surveillance video captured the masked men wielding a crow bar as they frantically searched the shop on White Oak Drive.
"They spent some time looking and seemed frustrated. They were kind of destroying things as they went when they couldn't find cash or anything else that they wanted to take," said Goldstein.
It happened around 5:30 a.m. Monday. Three employees were inside at the time.
"I dropped to the ground, I scurried to the kitchen and I started screaming for everyone to get out the back," said employee Carter Riden.
After using a crow bar to rip the iPads from the counters, the masked men ducked back through the glass door and ran.
And just minutes later, those three employees came back into the kitchen and opened up for business 30 minutes after the ordeal.
"I can't say better things about them, they handled it really, really well," said Goldstein.
The iPads that were stolen doubled as credit card readers, and without the them, the shop was left to only accept cash paying customers.
Loyal bagel lovers came to the rescue, covering the cost for customers who only carried credit cards.
"And some left some extra cash in case anyone showed up and needed help paying for their food today," said Goldstein.
The resilient employees and neighborhood support comes as no surprise to the business owner.
"We built this place as sort of a neighborhood place to congregate, not just as a shop to come in and out," said Goldstein.
A neighborhood staple it will stay as they beef up security inside and out.
