ALBUQUERQUE, NM (KRQE) — The owners of a popular indoor flea market and antique store are crying out for help. The windows are broken again and again, and the thieves keep breaking in. They said maybe they should close now.
The “Past, Present and In-Between” Indoor Flea Market has been a staple in the community for the past 10 years. They’ve consistently been voted number one for antiques in Albuquerque, but after a decade of rising crime, the owners are at breaking point.
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“It’s like you have severe PTSD from this stuff. People throwing knives at you. That’s not what you expect when you run a business. You shouldn’t also be a police officer in your business,” said owner Jacqueline Pattin and operator of Past, Present and In-Between.
The plywood that covers the store’s windows is evidence of the problems that, for years, Pattin said have plagued his store at Lomas and San Mateo. That store is home to more than 100 vendors, but now Pattin is faced with packing the store.
“We have to deal with the homeless on a regular basis. Homeless breaking our windows, vandalizing. It’s cost so much money that, I don’t know how much more of it we could take,” Pattin explained.
Just this year, they’ve had to replace windows and fix other vandal damage three times. The last one was this past Monday.
“This is a small local business that likes it, we’re not rich. We’re barely scraping by to pay for the windows to be fixed and it’s just taken out of our pocket. This is the last part we’ve got for worked, so many windows. It’s outrageous,” Pattin said.
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He said over the past decade, they’ve paid more than $25,000 to keep fixing the windows. Not to mention dealing with thieves: Pattin said less than six months ago, a man broke in and stole $7,000 worth of Native American jewelry.
“We caught him right here as we were walking through the front door at 3:00 in the morning. We did it before the police did, and we live in Bernalillo,” Pattin said, “it hasn’t been like this in five or seven years bad. We didn’t have that many homeless people walking in front of our door, coming in smoking. I’ve had them come in and spill tea all over the front area on carpets, furniture and everything. We’ve even had regular customers come in and boosted our $7,000 record on this one just because it hasn’t gotten its way.
With things as they are, she calls for a change: “The city has to do something. There needs to be more police. I don’t care how this happens. It has to happen. What are we paying for?, asks Pattin. “If it stays the way it is, who would want to stay in business?”
The owner said the problems have become so bad that they often have to close and even lock their doors during business hours to deter troublemakers from entering the store. Pattin said most of his vendors are over 50 and rely on their store as a major source of income.
