Raks Pham arrived to work Friday at the St. Paul auto repair his father started nearly four decades ago to find it burglarized.
After he posted about the break-in at Tuan Auto Repair in a Hamline-Midway neighborhood Facebook post, Pham heard from residents expressing their support for the well-loved family business.
Raks Pham, owner of Tuan Auto Repair, outside the St. Paul business started by his father in 1986.(Courtesy of Raks Pham)
Pham wrote that his shop at University Avenue and Pascal Street has been hit by graffiti in the past and he’s cleaned it up when that’s happened.
But “in all our years here these past couple to few years are the worst I have seen it,” he wrote. “And I don’t know what I can do to change it but to ask the entire neighborhood to help somehow. … Drive up and down (University Avenue) and alleyways and look at the trash and graffiti.”
City Council President Mitra Jalali, who represents the area, wrote in a reply that she was sad and sorry about the burglary.
She will be going to the shop “to talk about city funding to help make repairs/improve the site for safety as well as broader issues in the area we can work on together,” she wrote. “I have some ideas and we will do everything we can to help. You deserve a safe and secure experience, and your business is beloved in our city.”
The burglary happened around 1 or 2 a.m. Friday, Pham said. Someone apparently broke a small window in the alley and shimmied through it. “That’s how they got into the shop and a ton of stuff,” he said.
Among the items stolen were tools, equipment, lighting used by workers and a laptop. Pham estimates the value of everything was at least $30,000.
They were still able to open for business, though a cellphone that functions as the shop’s business phone was also taken, which meant people couldn’t reach the shop if they called Friday. Many customers have Pham’s cellphone, so they could contact him there, but he was upset about the sentimental value of the stolen phone.
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The phone belonged to Tuan Pham, Raks’ father who died in 2021. It had photos and videos of Tuan on it — and Raks said he enjoyed looking at them and hearing his dad’s voice. It’s an old Samsung cellphone that was in a black case. On the screen’s wallpaper is a photo of Raks’ father and a sister, who is also deceased.
People in the neighborhood Facebook group suggested starting a GoFundMe for Tuan Auto Repair. Pham said he appreciates the support, but is hoping the business’ insurance will cover their losses and damage.
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There have been 15 burglaries at homes or businesses reported to police in the area where Tuan Auto Repair is, (from Snelling Avenue to Hamline Avenue and Minnehaha Avenue to University Avenue) including Friday’s, according to police data. Throughout all of last year in the same area, there were 10 burglaries reported, down from 24 in 2022 and 32 in 2021.
Pham said he last remembers a burglary at the business in 2010, but he said more recently the “drug stuff” he sees when he cleans around the shop daily and the vandalism has been “unreal.”
Tuan Pham started the auto repair business in 1986. Rak learned how to fix cars when he was 16 and worked there throughout high school. Since he graduated from the University of Minnesota, Rak has worked at the shop full time and became the owner.
Police said Friday that they are investigating the burglary.
