Concord liquor store says thieves have broken in 6 times in the past 18 months

In Concord, a liquor store is reeling after the owner said thieves broke in and took tens of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise and cash. The owner said this instance is the sixth time in about eighteen months that the business has been broken into.

Sunny Zahid said he has owned Fast and Easy Liquor on Treat Boulevard in Concord for 12 years.

On Wednesday at around 3:30 in the morning, the store was closed, and Zahid was awoken to an alert from his store surveillance video.

The video showed a white SUV backing into the front entrance of the store, breaking down the door and glass windows. A group of people can be seen on the video then stepping through the broken door and going inside the store.

Zahid called 911 upon seeing the surveillance alert. He said the video shows nine people in total inside and outside his store at the time, and three cars.

Zahid said the thieves took off with several bottles of liquor worth thousands of dollars, about 175 cartons of cigarettes, his laptops, phones, and documents. He said the thieves even broke down the door to his back office and stole items that were in storage. Due to the Memorial Day holiday, Zahid said he had been unable to deposit his cash at the bank and had kept it in a safe at the store that was bolted shut. Zahid said the thieves sawed through that safe and carried it out.

"Every single penny that we save from selling stuff, they take it in just one time," he noted.

In total, he estimates the thieves got away with tens of thousands of dollars worth of cash and merchandise. But in addition to the stolen goods, they also left the business with pricey damage.

Zahid said his insurance will not cover the cost to repair the dismantled store exterior. The estimates he's gotten so far put the cost at more than $20,000 to repair.

Dealing with the stress of this most recent break-in has been weighing on him.

"Last night, I was so stressed out and anxiety and all that, that I was checking the camera every 15 to 20 minutes, I couldn’t sleep," he said.

While the store has been broken into in the past, Zahid said this break-in is the first time thieves have used a vehicle to enter the store. After several previous break-ins, Zahid said his insurance company dropped his policy. Once he installed bars on the windows and doors, he was able to find insurance again. He worries about how this latest break-in will impact his insurance.

"I am so scared that even if I fix it and pay from my pocket, then if it happens again next week, then how am I going to pay?" he said.

Zahid's family has launched a GoFundMe page, asking the community for support in recovering from this loss.

Regular customers at this store tell NBC Bay Area that this store is a fixture in the neighborhood, and they want to see the business continue.

Customer Patrick Woods said Zahid is "a good man."

"So hopefully he can keep pushing on, we don’t want to lose him," Woods continued.

NBC Bay Area reached out to Concord Police for comment on this story, but we have not received a response.