A Seat at the Table Books in Elk Grove, Calif., was burglarized over the weekend, KCRA3 reported. Early Sunday morning, two men broke into a lock box that contained an extra key meant for vendors, entered the store, and took the cash drawer and a computer monitor. They also damaged the store's back office and receiving desk.
"Nothing like waking up to an alarm alert because someone is stealing your cash boxes and trashing your back office looking for easy grabs," wrote store owner Emily Autenrieth on Instagram. "What kind of person decides to hit an INDIE BOOKSTORE?"
Following the burglary, the bookstore asked customers to pay by credit card or exact change for the immediate future, and drag queen Dolly Romano, who has done many events at A Seat at the Table, began asking for donations on the bookstore's behalf to help with damages and replacing what was broken. Autenrieth noted too that this was one of a spate of burglaries in the area that involved breaking into lock boxes.
According to KCRA3, police officers found the store's cash box in a nearby neighborhood.