tonight, and on our website at NBCBayArea.com. Well many small businesses across the Bay Area are struggling with crime, but this story really stands out. The owner of a tea shop in the South Bay says he's had more than 20 break ins since the pandemic started, and he's struggling to stay afloat. NBC's Marianne Favro has the exclusive story here at Tea Villa in downtown San Jose. You can see the windows are boarded up. The owner says. After seven break ins in the past year, he can no longer afford to replace the glass. This glass panel alone was broken into four times and I got fed up. So I installed acrylic on here. So they try to break in using a rock of some kind. They couldn't. So they try to burn it. Lam ha owns Tea Villa on first Street in downtown San Jose and says he's fed up with break ins at his store. Seven in just the past year, I had security cameras, ripped off the walls. Burglars also stole the technology he relies on for to go orders. They rip off all the tablets on the wall that we had. So those were also being very costly. So we had iPads, we had Samsungs, and, we had to replace those three, four times. The laser is broken. It doesn't work. Yeah. Security brought it back. Also stolen four PlayStations he bought for customers to use. But it's the broken windows that have become his biggest expense. It's all these four panels just got broken in. Just in the last nine months, forcing him to make a decision, pay his employees or pay thousands of dollars to replace the windows. He decided to just board them up with plywood. Manuel Perez has been a security guard for the building the last ten years, and says he's recently seen an increase in crime. I've been here all those times that there was a windows get broken, we make a report, that's the end of it. Police did make one arrest, but Lam says the break ins continue and he's worried about his employees. It's not only just for myself, the store, but now it's the safety of my employees also. So everybody here in concern, I'm not even sure how long I can stay here, Lam says. During the pandemic, TI Villa handed out free food, clothes and blankets to people in need. Now, he's hoping the community can help him stay in business in
