Vandalism and mischief are deterring visitors from downtown businesses in Chatham.
CK News Today spoke with businesses along King Street, and every store admitted to their own experiences with broken windows, vandalism, and even theft.
True North Cannabis is the most recent victim of these crimes. The shop had three of its windows and its front door shattered on Sunday morning.
"This is not the first time, not at this store. It's been, I think, the fourth time," said the manager of True North, Amber Ripley.
Although this was not the first incident, she said it will be the most costly. Ripley estimated the repairs will cost $30,000, if not more.
Nearby restaurant Taste has had its own experiences, noting that in the four years they have been there, the storefront has had its window broken, and its cash box stolen during another incident.
Tressa Dawson of Taste said she is on-call, constantly checking her store's cameras.
"I'm really diligent about checking them, and if the alarms go off, I come here right away," Dawson said.
Although the restaurant has no plans of moving, Dawson shares that these incidents put a "damper" on the location.
"We've had to pay out of pocket for that door that was smashed, so that is a little bit of a deterrent," Dawson continued.
Steven Adkins, owner of the neighbouring store, Serious Supplements, isn't sure if he would pick a downtown location if he had to start again.
"The location that we chose, we chose it for a reason. I would say there were a few things that on the surface it looked really good. And then once you kind of lived in the environment for a little while, you started to know what some of the issues were," Adkins shared.
Someone threw a rock through his front window in the summer of 2024 and tried unsuccessfully to raid his display case.
"It cost the business a few thousand dollars to replace the window. I'm never going to see any money back from that, so that was like the first year of business, so that was kind of tough to eat originally," said Adkins.
With the sun setting earlier, Ripley noted that fewer customers are coming downtown, instead choosing to make their purchases at stores not in the downtown core.
"Our busy times used to be up until 9 p.m., now it's dropping off, you know, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.," said Ripley
According to Chatham police, property checks have almost doubled since 2024, social disorder calls have seen an increase of four per cent in the last year, and the police service has completed 46 per cent more person stops since 2024.
"While recent incidents downtown have drawn attention online, the majority of these - over 80 per cent are related to social disorder, and not criminal acts," said Police Chief Kirk Earley. "Public safety is a shared responsibility; our officers are working diligently with local partners to provide support where needed and ensure public safety remains our top priority."
Chatham police have implemented increased patrols, and are with working with local businesses and the community to address these concerns.
The businesses hope that once the construction is completed on the mall, these incidents will occur less frequently.
"Now that the mall is coming together across the street, it feels like things are getting better," said Adkins.
