Toronto café owner boards up windows after two 'targeted' incidents of vandalism

Joseph Balloutine doesn’t want the windows of his Church Street café to be boarded up, but says he has no other choice after his business sustained expensive damage after being hit by vandals twice in two months.

During the first incident, which happened last October, two windows and a glass door were smashed.

Balloutine said a rock that was thrown through one of the broken windows also damaged the glass door of his gelato fridge from Italy. He told CP24.com that he didn’t bother repairing that piece of equipment as it would have been both expensive and would have taken quite some time for the replacement part to arrive from overseas.

In the end, he said the vandalism cost upwards of $7,000 to fix.

About a month later, Balloutine’s business, Church Street Espresso, fell victim to a second round of vandalism after two of the same windows were smashed.

Instead of paying for another expensive repair, which he said has now climbed to about $12,000, the married father of two young children boarded up the windows and affixed some fake greenery to cover up the unsightly wood.

“Coming out of COVID, I’m already in a tough place. There’s lot of bills. … I’m the only income,” Balloutine said when asked why he hasn’t repaired the damage.

In both incidents, which occurred in the early morning hours, Balloutine said surveillance footage from outside his café at 585 Church St. showed the same unknown assailant wearing a white mask and carrying a crowbar.

In the first case, they were wearing rollerblades, while the second time the suspect arrived on foot and wore running shoes, he told CP24.com.

Toronto police said that they have one report of vandalism at that address on file from October 2022 and so far have not been able to identify a suspect.

Balloutine told CP24.com that he didn’t bother filing a police report for the second incident.

“It feels pointless,” he said, adding this whole ordeal has been “overwhelming.”

“I work seven days a week. I don’t have the time to breathe or think,” he said.

Balloutine said he has dealt with some break ins over the years, but nothing quite like the “targeted” vandalism he said he’s experienced since last fall.

“I feel like it’s a campaign to push me out. It feels really obvious,” he charged.

George Pratt is the chair of the Church-Wellesley Village Business Improvement Area (BIA), which runs along Church Street from Gloucester to Wood streets.

Balloutine’s cafe is about one block north of that boundary.

Pratt said local bar and business owners have been working with the police and the city to address vandalism, graffiti, and other related safety concerns in the community.

“We’re helping each other,” he told CP24.com.

He said that the BIA has also partnered with The 519 community centre to set up a neighbourhood safety program, but that is not yet off the ground.

“We’re basically working to clean up the community throughout the year,” Pratt said.

“We want to have a successful business community.”

Pratt said businesses across the city are dealing with similar vandalism issues, adding there’s no easy solution to solving this problem.

One way to address it, he said, is by adding more surveillance cameras and hiring more security guards. Pratt also encouraged business owners to report any incidents to the police right away.

As for Balloutine, he said that this ongoing upsetting situation has forced him to explore his options and he’s seriously considering selling or even closing his Church Street location and opening up another café elsewhere.

”I don’t know what else to do, but we’ll get through it,” said Balloutine, who has owned the café at Church and Isabella streets for the nine years.

CP24.com reached out to local Coun. Chris Moise for comment, but we have yet to hear back.