Crime has made some businesswomen in Chicago rethink their future

Chicago (CBS) — Crime, safety and a lack of police protection have some small business owners in Chicago saying they’ve had enough and are preparing to leave.

As CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov reports, one of those owners has a long history downtown. She owns Sugar Bliss at 122 S. Wabash Ave in the Palmer House Hilton building, which has been in business for more than a decade.

But she’s rethinking her future in Chicago last week after someone vandalized her store and tried to steal a bag while she was in the store — and she’s not the only one.

“We’re basically sitting ducks,” said Sugar Bliss owner Teresa Ging.

Jing says that the joy of working in her cupcake and cookie store has replaced the stress. Incidents like last Friday are the reason.

“He came to the front door of our store, then approached the cash register,” Ging said.

This happened in broad daylight on a Friday at 10:20 p.m. The man was then caught on security camera leaving her room – and then trying to steal a bag on the way out.

This all happened while Jing was at a Women in Business Networking meeting.

“It happened so fast, but I feel like it’s — I mean, I’m kind of numb to it, you know what I mean?” She said. “It happens at least once a month.”

Ging called the police. They appeared after 40 minutes. She then fired off an email to Mayor Lori Lightfoot Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) and others.

Ging burned. at 1900 S. Halsted St. in the Pilsen community. So does Uzma Sharif, owner of Chocolat Uzma.

“We can’t live like this. The city has become — I won’t even say, Gotham City is a little bit better, because you have Batman,” Sharif said. “Here, you don’t have Batman—you know what I mean?”

After nine years in Pilsen, with only one burglary and a friend’s carjacking in 2021, Sheriff will close her retail stores at the end of September and move them to the suburbs.

The suburbs are “where the police departments are well-funded and where they want our business. It’s going to be DuPage or Will County,” she said.

Jing is doing the same thing. Having kept her long-lease stores in the Loop for several years, she now needs a new manufacturer for her packaged cookies.

“When I started calling co-packers, it’s not in Chicago anymore — it’s outside of Chicago,” she said.

Both Jing and Sharif feel city leaders don’t care enough about small business safety. Add to that list the lack of police and year-on-year increases in most crimes, and they feel they have no other choice.

Sheriff: “It’s happening everywhere — and that’s my concern.”

Kozlov: “So you really feel like it’s your only option to get out of town retail.”

Sheriff: “Unless I hire a 24/7 security guard to stand in front of my door, it’s my only option.”

Kozlov looked at the statistics — and while some crimes, like murder, were down in the city, robberies, burglaries, thefts and carjackings were up.

Jing and Sharif say those numbers are even more significant when they consider that the majority of small business owners are women.