'We Cannot Catch A Break': Uncle Bobbie's Coffee & Books Closed Friday After Targeted By Vandals Third Time In Over A Month
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - For the third time in little more than a month, someone has either vandalized or broken into a popular coffee shop in Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood. Police responded to Uncle Bobbie's Coffee & Books on the 5400 block of Germantown Avenue, around 11 p.m. Thursday for a report of a break-in.
When police arrived, they found the front window smashed. However, it is not clear if anything was taken.
The business will not be open Friday as the owner will be cleaning up the mess left behind and assessing property damage.
"We cannot catch a break. This time they damaged our POS so unfortunately we won't be open tomorrow. Will keep you posted when we know more. 
," Uncle Bobbie's Coffee & Books posted on Facebook.
It's been a tough year for Uncle Bobbie's Coffee & Books, first, the pandemic shutdowns and then a string of break-ins.
On July 26 thieves stole an iPad and roughly $600. A few days later on July 29, someone broke the window.
Shortly after the second break-in, the community pulled together and raised more than $80,000 to help the owner relaunch the business.
Eyewitness News spoke to the owner, Marc Lamont Hill, just before the store was set to reopen at the beginning of the month.
"There's so much beauty in Philadelphia, so much beauty in Germantown," Lamont Hill told Eyewitness News on Aug. 3. "Our job is to do our business as well as possible, but also to be a community hub, to be a place where people feel safety and security, to be a place where people get a sense of normalcy, where they can see community again, where people can feel like there is some possibility and reason for hope."
On Facebook, Uncle Bobbie's is described as, "At a moment when people are being divided and neighborhoods are being dismantled, Uncle Bobbie's is a community space designed for sharing, building, learning, laughing, debating, eating and building."
The business hopes to reopen on Saturday.
CBS3's Jan Carabeo contributed to this report.
