INDIANAPOLIS — A local business owner who's putting thousands of dollars into reopening a west side laundromat is having to spend a little bit more after a break-in.
"I wanna stay open 24 hours because not everybody has a nine to five work schedule," Daniel Alhbrand II, owner of 'Hoosier Family Laundry,' said.
Alhbrand knows it's hard having any business stay open consistently, but especially one like a laundromat. That's why he has several security cameras to make sure things run smoothly, even when he's not there.
"If I see somebody in here that's just sitting and they aren't doing laundry, they're just hanging out, I try to keep those people out because it makes my customers uncomfortable," Alhbrand.
But last weekend, two people came into Hoosier Family Laundry who weren't there to clean their dirty clothes.
"He came over and kind of started snooping around the doors. There's a table inside there. I had power tools on it," Alhbrand.
With one kick, a man was in the office, and in a little more than 10 seconds, stole the power tools. Then, he and his pal were out the door, leaving Daniel to deal with the mess left behind.
"He cracked the door right down the middle. We had to buy all new hardware. We had to reinforce the door frame," Alhbrand.
That was remodeling work Alhbrand didn't expect he'd have to do, but he's taking it all in stride. Since he started fixing up the laundromat at the beginning of December, the community response has been positive.
"We actually opened earlier than anticipated because while we were remodeling, we had so many people coming over, 'hey, you guys open?' And wanting to use the service," Alhbrand said.
The dire need for this place is why Alhbrand isn't letting the rotten actions of one person spoil it for everyone else.
"At the end of the day, we're here to serve customers," Alhbrand said. "Unfortunately, that guy wasn't one of our customers and I'm not going to let him ruin that for the people that we're here for."
Alhbrand knows he more than likely will not get his tools back, but he did file a police report, and officers told him they know of the two people.
If you recognize them or know where they are, Alhbrand wants you to get in touch with him or the police.
