Farm House on Main Street was burglarized at about 4:30 a.m. on Jan. 1 by an individual who appeared to work alone.

Surveillance video shows the suspect wearing dark pants, a dark hoodie, a surgical mask, and what appears to be a knit cap under the hoodie. The thief used what looked like a small, portable blowtorch to heat the glass of the store’s back door, causing the glass to shatter. The suspect then entered the store without opening the door frame, which would have tripped the alarm, according to store owner Candace Gonsalves. Overall, the thief took about 70 minutes to complete the crime.

“I guess the year can only get better from here,” said Gonsalves, who estimated the thief got away with about $8,000 in store inventory, not to mention the cost for replacing the broken glass on a holiday.

This is the second time Farm House has been burglarized during the 10 years Gonsalves has been in business. The first time, she said, occurred about three or four years ago.

“And, yes, I probably should have installed a metal security door at that time, but I love to think our little town is still small, and it was a fluke thing.”

Gonsalves said a metal security door doesn’t match the feeling she tries to create for her clientele.

“My employees are trained that the customer becomes family as soon as they enter. A metal door just doesn’t give the first impression that I’m going for. However, I’m having them installed.”

Gonsalves said that her operation isn’t a 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. job for her. Five o’clock is when the doors shut, but she’s often there an additional two hours later.

She said she doesn’t feel safe being there alone now after dark.

“Am I more worried these days?,” Gonsalves said. “Absolutely, because of circumstances.”

Jenny Roots Sousa, owner of Rustic Roots just a block over from Gonsalves on Main and Center streets, escaped a similar fate on Nov. 27. She suspects a would-be burglar attempted to break the glass on the Center Street side of her store. The glass was cracked, but it didn’t shatter, and she thinks a frustrated thief simply gave up.

Like Gonsalves, Sousa doesn’t always feel safe in her store, due to a makeshift homeless encampment that she says has sprung up in the parking lot behind her store.

“Look, I have no problem with the homeless people,” said Roots. “I’ve tried to help them. I’ve paid them to do odd jobs for me. But these people are different. I don’t feel safe.”

Sousa said she’s noticed an uptick in downtown homeless activity over the past year, which coincides with the city voting last January to close the day-use navigation center, which offered the homeless a daily place to congregate when overnight shelters were closed.

“It’s gotten bad,” said Sousa. “If I’d have known it was going to be like this when I started 12 years ago, I’m not sure I would have.”