State police are investigating several burglaries that occurred in the Shady Nook Shopping Center, 1200 block of Quakertown Avenue, Upper Hanover in the early morning hours of Sept. 19-20.

According to reports, an unknown person or people went to the rear of the shopping center businesses sometime before 4:30 a.m. Friday and pried open the doors of Smith’s Carpet Shop, Valley Café and Alpha Nails with an unidentified object.

Police said once inside the stores, the burglars took a Hewlett-Packard printer/copier from Smith’s and cash and coins from the café and nail salon. 

“I first noticed someone had rifled through a drawer where I keep the bank bags but there was nothing in them,” said Smith’s Carpet Shop co-owner Carol Smith, saying no money is kept inside the store overnight.  “I went into the back room and noticed the copier was gone.  That’s when we found they had pried open the back door.”

 Smith said she didn’t know if the perpetrators got interrupted because the Chinese restaurant in the shopping center, New China Wok, was untouched, as was Gardener’s Candies.  That store, however, is well-lighted, she said.

The carpet shop was also broken into about four years ago, Smith said, when the perpetrators broke down the front door to get inside.  That crime has not been solved to date, she said.

Karyn Keyser of Valley Café said it was a disappointment to see the restaurant was broken into last week.  She said the burglars took a “couple hundred dollars” in change from inside but only damaged the back door where they gained access. 

“Yes, it was quite a dis-appointment,” she said.  “It seemed to be a very random act and it could have been much worse [though].  We have taken precautions so it won’t happen again.”  

Anyone with information on the burglaries is asked to call state police at 610-584-1250.