Regina business targeted by vandalism once again

A Regina business has found itself the target of vandalism and racist graffiti once again.

This has become an ongoing occurrence for Country Corner Donuts on the corner of Dewdney Avenue and Broad Street, which has been vandalized five times in less than a year.

The store’s owner, Vuong Pham, says he has been trying to wrap his head around it.

“Why do people do that?” Pham said Wednesday as he reflected on the damage. “I don’t know why they don’t like me.”

Pham says he showed up to work Tuesday morning to find one of his regulars trying to clean up a mess of glass that lay inside and outside the doughnut shop.

Two rocks, roughly the size of small coffee mugs, had been hurled through the windows of the business, while anti-Chinese graffiti was written all over the glass of the front door.

The owner of Country Corner Donuts, Vuong Pham, showing where a rock had been thrown through the glass. (Logan Stein/980 CJME)

Phrases had been written across the glass in the months prior.

This time, Pham says the alleged vandals spent a lot more time making their presence felt.

“They do a lot of writing. It must take at least 15 minutes or a half-hour,” Pham said. “I’m Vietnamese, not even Chinese.”

Pham is keeping the graffiti up in the short term to make people aware that this has been happening.

“I don’t know what to do,” he said. “(There’s) nothing I can do.”

The community is once again rallying the doughnut shop: A long line stretching outside the front doors could be seen at times throughout the day Wednesday.

“It’s sad. It’s really disappointing to see,” one man said, pointing to the graffiti on the glass in front of him as he stood outside. “I wanted to come and support some hard-working people.

“It’s the least I could do.”

The shelves, usually stocked with an array of different doughnuts, were bare Wednesday afternoon.

Doughnuts flying off the shelves on March, 30, 2022. (Logan Stein/980 CJME)

Pham began to cry as he spoke about how much the community support has meant to him.

“Business (is) sometimes up (and) sometimes down, but we stay here,” he said as he wiped away tears. “Believe me, I’m a very strong man.

“Doesn’t matter what happens; people support me a lot. I love them. They are so good to me.”

In January, police charged a 46-year-old man with five counts of mischief under $5,000 following a string of incidents, one of which involved him vandalizing Country Corner Donuts with graffiti in November.

The Regina Police Service says it’s currently investigating this most recent incident.