'With growth...growing pains': Vandalism rises in Southie

BOSTON — The bakers at Sweet Tooth Bakery in South Boston are a little sour over what’s happened to them recently.

A sign outside the building explains it. It’s a photo of the bakery’s front window boarded up after it had been smashed out.

“As I drove up to the front of the shop, I drove up to a boarded-up window which was pretty disconcerting,” Owner Glenn Quirion explained to Boston 25 News.

Vandals had smashed the front windows of the store, but didn't take anything.

“I hate to see things like this happen. It's reminiscent of things that happened six years ago when we had a lot of break-ins,” said Quirion.

Sweet Tooth wasn't the only target though. Up and down Broadway, stores have recently been hit with vandalism.

Cardboard now hangs at a medical officer not far away from Sweet Tooth and, according to Boston police, there has been an increase in business break-ins compared to last year in Southie.

The impact for the business is felt in the wallet.

“It's hard enough to be a small business,” said David Venter, who owns a Southie Business. “But then to have to pay out of pocket for this type of vandalism hurts.”

It comes as millions of dollars in new construction and high rises go up down the street.

“With growth, there's always growing pains. And I hope that this is just a blip and like I said, just growing pains, because there are a lot of people in the community who care about the community,” said Quirion.

The community, however, is now watching a little closer and checking the cameras more often to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

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