Ziggi’s Coffee shop in Arvada on Wednesday, October 25, 2023. (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Thieves have targeted at least six coffee shops across the Front Range for more than a year, according to area law enforcement agencies.
One of the latest burglaries was at a Ziggi’s Coffee shop at 7700 W. 67th Ave. in Arvada, owned by Brittany Johnson and her husband Eric, with a safe stolen on Oct. 1.
“It’s just super violating,” she said. “Are we going to lose our baristas because they don’t feel safe anymore?’ ”
According to security camera footage shared with The Denver Post, a male burglar in a hoodie, face mask and black backpack threw a rock through the shop’s drive-thru window around 4:45 a.m. He climbed through, then Johnson said he wheeled the safe out in a trash can.
“He didn’t steal our iPads or anything – just took our safe,” she said.
Eric and Brittany Johnson, owners of a Ziggi’s Coffee location in Arvada, provided footage of the suspect who burglarized their store earlier this month. (Photo courtesy of Eric and Brittany Johnson)
Her coffee shop is the second Ziggi’s in Arvada to be burglarized, with at least four more broken into on the Front Range in a similar manner – shattering drive-thru windows and doors with rocks – since last summer.
In the Arvada Police Department’s jurisdiction, the police are “absolutely” looking at one suspect, instead of multiple, spokesman David Snelling said.
In Westminster, two break-ins happened last year at the Ziggi’s Coffee shop at 8525 W. 100th Ave. – one instance on June 19 when suspects unlocked the door, but didn’t take anything, and a second time on Oct. 2 when they broke the window and stole cash, Westminster Police Department investigator Cheri Spottke said. No arrests have been made in either case.
In Colorado Springs, the police department received a call for a burglary at a Ziggi’s Coffee shop in March, with the suspects gaining access by throwing rocks through the front door, spokesperson Caitlin Ford said.
In Loveland, a burglar allegedly stole a safe from a Dutch Bros. Coffee shop in the early morning hours of April 3, breaking into the building by throwing a rock through a window, KDVR reported. The Loveland Police Department and Dutch Bros. Coffee didn’t respond to a request for comment.
And in Denver, Prodigy Coffeehouse at 4500 Broadway in Globeville reported three break-ins earlier this year in February, April and May, said Executive Director Jeslin Shahrezaei, who also serves as a Lakewood city councilwoman.
With burglars smashing windows and prying open doors for access, the safe was stolen twice, along with petty cash, merchandise and a tool set. The coffeehouse’s external cameras caught one theft committed by two men in hoodies.
Shahrezaei called the incidents “big hits for us” as a new business and nonprofit that hires young adults into paid apprenticeships.
“We heard from the police department that, in the Globeville neighborhood, there was a number of small businesses that were burglarized, and they actually think that was related to this neighborhood specifically,” she said. But Shahrezaei called the crimes “similar” to the ones happening across the Front Range.
The Denver Police Department didn’t respond to a request for further information.
Ziggi’s Coffee franchisee Natalie Lord said two of her three Denver-area locations burglarized last year.
She’d just opened her shop in Arvada on Colorado 72 and Candelas Parkway when a thief broke in through her drive-thru window last September. One month later, it happened at her Westminster location at 8525 W. 100th Ave. – a drive-thru window was shattered.
Now, she is concerned about the safety of her third store.
Lord guesses the suspect is choosing coffee shops because they’re “easily accessible,” she said. “It’s in-and-out quickly.”
But the costs associated with recovering from thefts burden store owners. “We’re a small business,” she said. “We work hard for what we have.”
The Ziggi’s investigations in Arvada related to Johnson’s and Lord’s stores remain open, Snelling said. In those two cases, he notes that there are “definitely similar suspects,” with one man wearing the same attire during both crimes: a face mask, gloves, a hoodie and a black backpack.
He also points to a Sept. 5 crime that occurred at Kneaders Bakery and Cafe at 7945 Wadsworth Blvd. that follows a pattern similar to the Ziggi’s robberies – a rock through the drive-thru window – although the department doesn’t have video to confirm that it’s the same suspect. That investigation is also open.
Store owners agree: “We’d love to help catch him,” Lord said.
This story was originally published by The Denver Post, a BusinessDen news partner.
Ziggi’s Coffee shop in Arvada on Wednesday, October 25, 2023. (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Thieves have targeted at least six coffee shops across the Front Range for more than a year, according to area law enforcement agencies.
One of the latest burglaries was at a Ziggi’s Coffee shop at 7700 W. 67th Ave. in Arvada, owned by Brittany Johnson and her husband Eric, with a safe stolen on Oct. 1.
“It’s just super violating,” she said. “Are we going to lose our baristas because they don’t feel safe anymore?’ ”
According to security camera footage shared with The Denver Post, a male burglar in a hoodie, face mask and black backpack threw a rock through the shop’s drive-thru window around 4:45 a.m. He climbed through, then Johnson said he wheeled the safe out in a trash can.
“He didn’t steal our iPads or anything – just took our safe,” she said.
Eric and Brittany Johnson, owners of a Ziggi’s Coffee location in Arvada, provided footage of the suspect who burglarized their store earlier this month. (Photo courtesy of Eric and Brittany Johnson)
Her coffee shop is the second Ziggi’s in Arvada to be burglarized, with at least four more broken into on the Front Range in a similar manner – shattering drive-thru windows and doors with rocks – since last summer.
In the Arvada Police Department’s jurisdiction, the police are “absolutely” looking at one suspect, instead of multiple, spokesman David Snelling said.
In Westminster, two break-ins happened last year at the Ziggi’s Coffee shop at 8525 W. 100th Ave. – one instance on June 19 when suspects unlocked the door, but didn’t take anything, and a second time on Oct. 2 when they broke the window and stole cash, Westminster Police Department investigator Cheri Spottke said. No arrests have been made in either case.
In Colorado Springs, the police department received a call for a burglary at a Ziggi’s Coffee shop in March, with the suspects gaining access by throwing rocks through the front door, spokesperson Caitlin Ford said.
In Loveland, a burglar allegedly stole a safe from a Dutch Bros. Coffee shop in the early morning hours of April 3, breaking into the building by throwing a rock through a window, KDVR reported. The Loveland Police Department and Dutch Bros. Coffee didn’t respond to a request for comment.
And in Denver, Prodigy Coffeehouse at 4500 Broadway in Globeville reported three break-ins earlier this year in February, April and May, said Executive Director Jeslin Shahrezaei, who also serves as a Lakewood city councilwoman.
With burglars smashing windows and prying open doors for access, the safe was stolen twice, along with petty cash, merchandise and a tool set. The coffeehouse’s external cameras caught one theft committed by two men in hoodies.
Shahrezaei called the incidents “big hits for us” as a new business and nonprofit that hires young adults into paid apprenticeships.
“We heard from the police department that, in the Globeville neighborhood, there was a number of small businesses that were burglarized, and they actually think that was related to this neighborhood specifically,” she said. But Shahrezaei called the crimes “similar” to the ones happening across the Front Range.
The Denver Police Department didn’t respond to a request for further information.
Ziggi’s Coffee franchisee Natalie Lord said two of her three Denver-area locations burglarized last year.
She’d just opened her shop in Arvada on Colorado 72 and Candelas Parkway when a thief broke in through her drive-thru window last September. One month later, it happened at her Westminster location at 8525 W. 100th Ave. – a drive-thru window was shattered.
Now, she is concerned about the safety of her third store.
Lord guesses the suspect is choosing coffee shops because they’re “easily accessible,” she said. “It’s in-and-out quickly.”
But the costs associated with recovering from thefts burden store owners. “We’re a small business,” she said. “We work hard for what we have.”
The Ziggi’s investigations in Arvada related to Johnson’s and Lord’s stores remain open, Snelling said. In those two cases, he notes that there are “definitely similar suspects,” with one man wearing the same attire during both crimes: a face mask, gloves, a hoodie and a black backpack.
He also points to a Sept. 5 crime that occurred at Kneaders Bakery and Cafe at 7945 Wadsworth Blvd. that follows a pattern similar to the Ziggi’s robberies – a rock through the drive-thru window – although the department doesn’t have video to confirm that it’s the same suspect. That investigation is also open.
Store owners agree: “We’d love to help catch him,” Lord said.
This story was originally published by The Denver Post, a BusinessDen news partner.
