San Francisco’s popular ice cream parlor Mitchell’s broken into and vandalized

Early Friday morning, the window of a popular ice cream parlor in San Francisco was smashed.

Michell’s Ice Cream store at 688 San Jose Avenue said on Instagram that the break-in occurred around 3 a.m. Friday when five men smashed one of the front windows.

“We have cameras throughout the store and outside, so we could see they were trying to steal our safe, which is bolted securely to the concrete floor,” the store said. “They ran out of the store when our alarm went off and police arrived about 10 minutes later. We always leave our cash register drawers empty and open, so they ended up leaving with a bag of cookies. But what a mess they left behind. Broken glass everywhere and crushed cookie bags that they stepped on when they entered.”

The store did not respond to a request for further comment on Friday evening.

Those responsible for the ice cream parlors took the opportunity to warn other business owners.

“Be sure to leave your cash registers open so thieves can see there’s nothing in them, and put all your cash, checks, etc. in a safe bolted to the floor,” officials said. “And a good alarm system will send them running in a hurry. They’re currently raiding our neighborhood (the Rock Bar was broken into about a week ago), so be careful!”