“I mean you feel vulnerable, you feel a little uneasy,” Averill Dove said.
Buffalo, N.Y. — Surveillance video from outside a small business in Buffalo’s Five Points neighborhood may help Buffalo police identify people who broke in and stole cash and other items over the weekend.
The husband-wife duo who run Black Monarchy told 2 On Your Side on Monday they are grateful for all the support they have received and want to reopen “sooner rather than later”.
Store fronts on West Utica Street in Buffalo were boarded up Monday after a busy holiday shopping weekend was disrupted by a break-in.An unidentified person stole cash and other items overnight from Saturday through Sunday morning, a Buffalo police spokesman said.
“I mean you feel vulnerable, you feel a little uneasy,” Averill Dove said.
Owner Phylicia Dove was out of town when the news was heard Sunday morning. Her husband, Averill, arrived after a call that the glass front door had been shattered.
Since then, he has been doing everything he can to get his wife’s life back to normal.
“I don’t want her to go back to a place where she feels devastated,” Averyldorf said.
The store, which specializes in African and African-inspired clothing, opened five years ago, but beyond its business, Dove said, it has become a safe space for the city’s African-American neighbors.
“It’s more about letting the community come in and breathe, and we feel like this space is refreshing for the community,” Averill Dove said.
The pair are determined to maintain that atmosphere and the “safe space” they’ve created, and hope Buffalo police will honor their urgent plea for the case.
“If we talk to detectives, we want them to know that this has become a hot spot for business and a target for criminals,” Averill Dove said.
The couple hopes that two surveillance cameras outside the Black Monarchy and another across the street will help catch the perpetrator, but Averill added they will also be making other changes to security.