Vote for democrats, get what democrats support: crime.
In a sane part of the world (needless to say:
not NYC), the store owner would have pulled out his pistol from behind the counter and offered the thug to either drop the stolen merchandise, or else take a bullet.
Because, you see: that
works. It actually deters crime.
But we can't have that, because the Nation of Woke-istan is on the side of the Criminal and the innocent store owner is the one who would instead be arrested, tried and convicted.
So the owner can't own a weapon to defend himself and the criminals know it, and they help themselves to whatever they want.
Because even if a cop were to arrest him, the perp knows that he'll never be fined, much less serve jail time when some Soros-funded, Wokeistani DA lets him walk.
Just like last time.