Flower thief steals plants from Williamsburg wine bar's outdoor seating area
The owner of With Others Brooklyn says the flowers had been up for less than one week.
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A man was caught on camera apparently stealing flowers from the outdoor dining set-up at With Others Brooklyn - a wine bar in Williamsburg.
"It's like....why?" said owner Shanna Nasiri of her reaction. "At this point, I feel like I've seen it all, so this was just a new thing to add to the list."
A closer look at the video shows the man even had a garden shovel with him, making Nasiri think it was premeditated.
"I don't really know what type of person would think to do that and plan it and prepare for it, when they could just go to the garden center," Nasiri said.
She tells News 12 the man took the two flowers he is seen with on the video, as well as two more on the other side of the setup off camera.
It had been less than a week since Nasiri spent her one day off picking them out and setting them up.
"It's not that it's a very expensive thing to steal from a business, it's just the time and effort it took," she said. "I think most people just don't understand how difficult it is to be a small business owner."
While With Others, and some of the other businesses in the area, are used to having random items like glasses and candles stolen from time to time. They say a plant thief is a new one.
"You always immediately kind of feel like 'OK, this is why we can't have nice things,' and you want to be like 'I'm not going to get new plants," Nasiri said, "But we are going to get new plants, and I'm not going to let one bad actor ruin it."
While Nasiri does not think it is worth the effort to go to the police over a few potted plants, she says she does hope to see the man around the neighborhood.
"I would let him know like 'hey, I saw you,'" she said. "It's not like I want them back, but you know, we put so much effort in behind the scenes, and I just hope people have more understanding."
Thanks to a donation from a friend, With Others was able to replace most of the flowers quickly.
