PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - A bike shop on Portland's east side has become the latest victim of a smash-and-grab. Now, the owner is asking for the community's help to get back on his feet.

Nick Sorenson has owned 'Something Cycles' on East Burnside for about a year and a half. He's turned into a neighborhood staple, often helping some of his most loyal customers for free. However, that kindness didn't rub off on the man who broke into the bike shop last Friday, breaking through not only a giant pane of glass but also a security gate.

"It's locked. It's bolted. They just had tools to undo the nuts and bolts and had enough time to sit back there and fiddle with it till they could get in," Sorenson explained.

Once the suspect was inside, he caused thousands of dollars in damage and stole even more in merchandise including a brand-new e-bike and a customer's bike that was in for repair.

"It feels very intrusive to have somebody in your space that's not welcome," Sorenson said.

However, as intrusive as it feels, Sorenson said that being a new business owner in Portland, it was almost expected.

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"I just kind of assumed. Every bike shop owner I know they've had break-ins and had to learn from those break-ins. How to better get their spaces secure," Sorenson said.

After the break-in, Sorenson worked to upgrade his space, making it more secure so that hopefully it doesn't happen again.

"It's always a possibility if I'm not here," Sorenson said. "But hopefully they won't be able to next to next time or I'll have alarms in place that people can get here fast enough."

However, if it does happen again, the bike shop owner said he'll be equipped with an insurance policy covering break-ins next time.

"I was unaware of my insurance plan not covering anything other than natural disasters," Sorenson explained. "They told me afterward that sometimes they won't provide insurance for theft if it's in an area that they don't think is worth it to them."

With the Kerns neighborhood experiencing more than 600 burglaries or robberies in the last five years according to the PPB, Sorenson said it's likely he'll be facing some pretty high premiums. But before he gets ahead of himself, he's first working on getting back on his feet and said he's thankful his bike community has come out to support him.

"They've been helping share my GoFundMe and my story so that more people see it and the love from that has been really great," Sorenson said.

PPB is asking anyone with information to contact [email protected] and reference case number 24-293260.