Fresno County businesses hit by two burglaries days apart, owners on edge
Two businesses less than a mile apart were hit days apart, leaving owners boarding up doors, worrying about early-shift workers and repeated break-ins.
Police are investigating two commercial burglaries in Fresno County that happened less than a mile apart and only days apart, and small business owners in the Northeast Fresno and Clovis corridor are now weighing whether they need to spend more on security, change staffing patterns and rethink early-morning hours.
At JK Liquor in Northeast Fresno, owner and manager Jaskaran Mann said the front door was left boarded up after burglars forced their way in early Wednesday morning. Security video showed a man dressed in black trying to pry open the door with a crowbar while another person appeared to keep watch. When that did not work, the suspects used a white GMC to ram the entrance, got inside and took the cash register along with bottles and invoices before leaving.
Mann said the store is a family business, and the loss reaches far beyond the missing cash. He said it threatens the shop’s survival, a warning that lands hard for small retailers that rely on steady daily traffic and tight margins to stay open.
A second burglary hit Spirit Made Cakes on Willow Avenue in Clovis early Monday morning. Owner Vartine Garabet said her biggest concern was not the money but employee safety. Bakers arrive as early as 5 a.m., and the break-in happened around 4:30 a.m., making the incident feel especially personal and unsettling.
Video from the bakery showed a suspect entering with a crowbar, moving through the kitchen and stealing cash and a tip jar. Garabet said the bakery had been hit before, adding to the sense that the same corridor may be drawing repeated break-ins.
Clovis police said they were already investigating several commercial burglaries in the Willow and Nees area dating back to December. Taken together, the cases have raised a broader question for merchants in the area: whether the recent hits are isolated or part of a burglary pattern that is testing the same shopping stretch again and again.
For owners nearby, the effect is already visible. Security costs are moving up, workers are more uneasy about early shifts, and some businesses are talking to landlords about upgrades before the next alarm goes off. In a corridor built on routine traffic and early openings, two break-ins in close succession have changed the conversation from inconvenience to prevention.
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