String of burglaries impact Takoma pet store

WASHINGTON — Running The Big Bad Woof in Takoma has been a labor of love for Julie Paez, and after nearly 20 years, she’s still proud to serve the community’s pet parents.

“Our customers are awesome, it’s a huge family,” Paez said. “They take care of us, we take of them, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

However, in late September, she unwillingly became the newest member of a growing club of business owners in the community.

“They said, ‘oh, so you’ve joined the Break-In’ club!” she decried.

The store’s surveillance video from Friday night shows a silver sedan driving up to the door, three individuals getting out, then disappearing into the store. A little over a minute later, the three come back outside, jump back into the sedan, then drive away, leaving a big mess behind for Julie and her employees to clean up.

“We found glass all the way up to the register,” Paez said. “They rifled around a little bit behind the register, knocked some things over, and they were on their way.”

The break-in was the latest in a string of burglaries in both Takoma and Takoma Park over the past few weeks. Paez revealed that a Thai restaurant was broken the same night.

Paez says cleaning up after a break-in isn’t cheap, and many businesses in the area have opted to keep as little cash as possible on-site to make themselves less of a target.

Yet after two decades of running a Takoma store, she also says this is just the cost of doing business these days.

“You never know until you get here, and as soon as you see the broken glass, you know you’re in for a long night!” she said.