Hamilton business damaged in early-morning break-in on Sunday

The Hamilton community is working to support a local business that experienced a break-in and damage this weekend.

Sometime before 6 a.m. Sunday, the plate glass window of The Almond Sisters bakery, 224 High St., was broken by a brick, and the suspect or suspects fled the scene with the cash register, leaving a trail of coins in the adjacent alley, said owner Jenni Hubbard.

“I’ve been shook up all day,” Hubbard said on Sunday. “We’ve been in business since 2012 and in this location going on five years in November.”

Hubbard said her husband, Scott, followed the coins and found the cash register in a Dumpster behind a building on Market Street. Hamilton police are investigating the break-in and took the cash register to determine if there were any usable fingerprints, Hubbard said.

She said police were going to check security cameras in that area to identify the intruder.

Hamilton police officials could not be reached for comment on the investigation on Sunday afternoon.

The incident forced her to close the bakery Sunday. Business has been tough this year, and it was closed from March 17 to July 1 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Friends, customers and other business owners came out to see how they could help bringing their support and opening up their wallets.

A friend of Hubbard’s set up a GoFundMe account that raised more than $6,300 in eight hours, tripling the initial goal of $2,000. In addition, the Pinball Garage has scheduled a fundraiser on Tuesday to help the bakery and has generated more than 100 shares. The Facebook page for The Almond Sisters was full of comments expressing their support for the local business as well as their outrage against the break-in. Hubbard said she had people just walk in and make a donation to help out.

“That has been unreal about how popular this has become,” Hubbard said. “It’s blowing my mind.”

The plywood to cover the opening where the plate glass window was broken has already been painted with the message, “Broken but not destroyed.”

“The community is going to determine the outcome of this situation,” she said. “They’re speaking up loud and clear.”

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