At this stage of the game, it’s remarkable that small business owners can stay in business in California.

One of Oakland’s oldest jewelry stores was targeted in a brazen, armed daytime robbery on Wednesday that all but cleaned out the store. The robbery was the worst in the family-owned store’s 40 years of operation, ABC 7 reported.

Eight armed suspects stormed into Phuong Jewelry in Oakland’s Chinatown just after noon and began crashing the display cases and grabbing the contents while the 69-year-old mother ducked behind the counter and screamed for help — she would eventually escape to a back room, where her 76-year-old husband emerged with a gun to chase the thugs away.

8 armed suspects ransacked the legacy Oakland Chinatown business Phuong Jewelry yesterday at around 12:30.

The family tells me, in less than one minute 85-90% of their inventory was taken.

Watch as owner Diane runs to the back & gets her 76-year old husband. He storms out… pic.twitter.com/JSmFDL960j

— Dion Lim (@DionLimTV) April 12, 2024

“We’ve been robbed a few times before but not at this level of brazen magnitude. Eight individuals and two getaway cars and guns drawn,” Tony Trinh said. “I thought, did my mother get shot? Did my father get shot? Did any of our staff of community members?”

“If he hadn’t done that they would have kept going,” Tony said of his father emerging with a gun,

He estimated that about 85 to 90% of the store’s inventory was taken in the heist, according to the affiliate. “And to make matters worse rising premiums prompted the family to let their business insurance lapse.

“My mom was devastated and my dad was broken,” Tony said. “It’s rough, my mom is the leader of the pack – when she suffers I suffer the same thing from her.”

Tony is executive director of the Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council, a position he pursued because of crime, and while optimistic about the larger picture, he’s not as sure about whether his family business will survive the robbery.

“We would love to but with the environment and how tough it’s been we don’t know yet,” he said.

“I’ve seen tremendous progress even though it doesn’t feel like that. In terms of cleaning and safety, there are a lot more out there ambassadors – we have walking officers – during the pandemic we didn’t,” he added.

A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the business, with $5,275 collected as of this writing toward a goal of $50,000.

Here’s a quick sampling of response to the story, as seen on X:

Can someone please explain to me why Asians are told to check the supposed “anti-blackness” in our community when this happens regularly?

This is getting absurd, and there is complete mainstream blackout over Asians being brutalized and robbed in our cities

— Kangmin Lee | 이강민 (@kangminjlee) April 12, 2024

Who in their right mind ould open up a new retail business in California? The taxes, regulations, permitting, etc. etc. and if you figure that all out and keep your business open, you just wait to get robbed.

— Lex Jurgen (@Lex_Jurgen) April 12, 2024

Rooftop Koreans need to make a comeback. No description of the scholars, per usual. I was told, Crime was down!

— (@Lemonhead965) April 12, 2024

And greasy @GavinNewsom is out there lying and saying crime is down. Unbelievable what people are going through and being victimized. They are probably all career criminals that should have still be behind bars.

— The ULTRA Craftsman ☢️ (@LeatherJoseph) April 12, 2024

It truly breaks my heart. As an immigrant myself, I understand their sacrifice just to fall victim to ideologists who only fight for criminals to do not face the consequences of their acts while the rest of society suffers. This is the opposite of “social justice”

— Karina Velásquez (@KarinaVlaw) April 12, 2024

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Tom Tillison

Senior Staff Writer
Tom@bizpacreview.com

The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.

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