ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The owner of a café in Albuquerque says she’s not giving up hope, even after vandals targeted her business recently.

Mariah Granone owns Café Chica on Central, near Lomas, just between downtown and Old Town. She moved to that location just in May.

“It’s very cutesy, girly. We also have a kids corner. I want it to feel welcoming to people, and I don’t want people to be worried about coming in here,” she said.

It’s a different story when Granone gets into work at 3 a.m., though.

“We had a rock thrown out the window, then we had a bullet hole,” she said. “My fear was, I’m going to replace this window, and the second I replace it, I’m going to have to replace it again. And then, sure enough, a couple days later, after it happened, we came back in and there was a bullet hole in the window.”

That’s enough to frustrate any business owner – but it got worse.

“We came in and part of the lock was up here,” she showed us. “It was spinning and spinning and spinning. There was a guy at the front door that was trying really hard to get in and did break the lock.”

That man didn’t get in but Granone calls security almost daily because of the people who pop up on her doorstep.

“I think it’s just scary in general. I mean, I’m a woman, and most of my staff are women. And it’s scary when you’re coming in here at three o’clock in the morning and you’re greeted by strangers at the front door and you don’t know who they are or if they want to hurt you,” she said.

For Granone, moving ended up being just the first step.

“With this most recent incident, I just kind of said absolutely no cash payments whatsoever,” she said. “It’s frustrating for us too because sometimes customers have to leave. They don’t have anything but cash. And that’s frustrating on both ends, but I rather have just the less that there is to steal, the better.”

Regardless, Granone says her love for Albuquerque keeps her working toward getting rid of the stigma around downtown.

“I tell people my business is located on Central. And I usually get a look like, ‘it’s in that part of town’. But there are really nice parts of downtown. And I think we have really awesome potential,” she said.

Granone grew up in Albuquerque and is familiar with its reputation. However, she believes small business are a big part of making the Duke City a better place.