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Smashed glass doesn't shatter shop owner's smile

Saint John police are investigating the vandalism of two uptown properties whose windows were smashed with a hammer early Friday.

The time that Anne McShane normally spends getting her Feel Good Store ready for the day's business was spent instead cleaning up shards of glass.

The name of the shop on Germain Street was hard to make out after someone smashed the centre of it, cracking the double-pane, plate-glass window.

Despite the inconvenience, McShane sported a surprisingly cheerful attitude.

"Honestly, the biggest thing that drives me crazy is I have to clean up all that glass," she said.

​Cost of doing business

Pointing to another store across the street, where a window was smashed in the last 12 months, McShane said vandalism was the cost of doing business in an urban area.

"Good Fibrations had a window incident, Dr. Brown's optometrist down the street's had issues before," she said.

What makes McShane's disposition even more surprising is this incident isn't the only time her windows have met a similar fate.

In November 2014, an elderly man drove his car straight through the window while trying to parallel park.

"It was easier this time when I came in, when I first looked at it, because it's the devil I knew," McShane said, noting she knew exactly who to call when she arrived.

McShane still has the sign left from the previous incident assuring customers her shop is still open.

She's the first to admit that keeping the sign may in some way have jinxed her.

"It's like when people give away baby clothes and end up pregnant again," she said with a laugh.

You are not alone

The Abbey St. Andrew apartment building at 181 Charlotte St. had two glass doors smashed Friday morning.

Realtor John McAloney, who handles rentals in the building, called the damage "very disheartening."

But what could provide solace for both properties is that security cameras captured the vandal on tape, McAloney said.

He said the footage showed someone hitting the windows with a hammer.

The tape has been passed on to police, but Sgt. Chuck Breen said there are no suspects yet.

"Misery loves company," McShane said inside her store.

"It's good to feel it's not just you, but it's terrible that it happened to two people or anyone at all."