The doors of Brown and Dickson Books on Richmond Row have shut after nearly a decade in the downtown core

Bookstore closes due to safety concerns A London bookstore closes in the downtown core after a decade due to safety concerns. CTV London's Brent Lale reports

Not feeling safe to bring their dogs to work, along with a baby on the way, Jason Dickson and Vanessa Brown decided to shut the doors to their bookstore.

"It is always tough to say goodbye to something that's been so special. We really have had incredible times here," said Brown.

Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis said help is on the way for businesses in the form of the Housing and Homelessness Strategy to start addressing some of the issues downtown.

Council is discussing a business case assessment this coming week to increase the city's police force to protect business owners.

"We have to recognize that whether it's business owners, customers, and residents, that there are not just the people who are experiencing homelessness, who needs some compassion," said Lewis. "It’s also the people who expect their community to be safe."

Lewis said London police claim the Forest City has an 86 per cent higher property crime rate than the rest of the province, and said that is "not acceptable."

He sympathizes with Jason and Vanessa, as well as all business owners who are victims of property crime.

"You can't keep having your front window smashed in and spending thousands of dollars every time to replace that struggling with insurance companies who are considering not giving you coverage anymore because of the property damage that's being done," sai Lewis. "We need both compassion and enforcement if we're going to address this issue."

Despite personal concerns, Brown and Dickson said they don't want their decision to close their doors to affect visitors to the downtown area.

"Come out and support our neighbors, the Neptune diner next door as well as Grow and Bloom," said Brown.

"I can think of incredible entrepreneurs and people who really work hard to create something special and unique in downtown London. So we support those people. And we'll continue to do that," he added.

The couple have opened another location on Albion Street in the Blackfriars neighbourhood. Their "bookmobile" plans to be in the city by this summer.

"We're really excited about the future," said Brown."We're still absolutely going to be here participating in the community and we'd love to be downtown at events like Home County. So it's definitely not a closed door."