Lincoln popcorn shop barely avoids break-in as man tries to chisel his way in
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – A popular Lincoln popcorn and ice cream shop survived a close call late Sunday night.
A would-be thief used a small tool to try to break into Topper Popper near Holdrege Street and North Cotner Boulevard.
“He tried to chisel through the dead bolt and around the door,” owner Mike Bretta said. “He basically gouged a hole in the door and tried to pull the deadbolt out.”
Bretta heard from police around midnight that someone was trying to get into his store.
A neighbor spotted the vandal and thwarted his efforts.
By the time police and Bretta got to the shop, the perpetrator was gone.
But not before he did quite a bit of damage to the wooden door.
“I mean, he got pretty far,” Bretta said. “He did enough damage that basically, given another hour, he might have made it through the door.”
Chunks of wood are missing around the dead bolt, where the vandal chipped away with a small tool.
But even if he made it inside, Bretta said there wouldn’t have been much to steal.
“The only thing that’s left in the drawers is pennies and nickels at the end of the night, so there’s less than five bucks in the register overnight,” he said. “So the only thing he would have got was maybe some popcorn.”
Bretta said the store has been a staple since the 1960s, so he’s not surprised people are looking out for the shop.
“It’s a pretty close-knit neighborhood around here, and most of the people that live around here come here quite a bit,” he said. “I came here when I was a kid, and that’s one of the reasons I really want to save it.”
Bretta has installed security cameras to stop this from happening again, and he plans to buy a new door.
He has only owned the store for a year, but he isn’t letting this discourage him.
“I’m not going to give up; I’m not going to let anybody make me mad,” he said. “I just laughed it off. That’s all I can do. People are desperate, unfortunately. If you need five bucks, just ask me. I’ll give you five bucks.”
