$160K worth of valuables stolen from small family-owned Glendale market

GLENDALE, Calif. (KABC) -- Three masked suspects were caught on camera burglarizing a small family-owned Glendale market, making off with a safe containing more than $160,000 worth of valuables.

Nova Market & Catering, located at Glenoaks Boulevard and Highland Avenue, opened eight months ago and the Novshadian family had been working hard to stay afloat.

When suspects targeted their business at about 2 a.m. on Wednesday, they said it was a devastating blow.

"You know being here for 12 to 16 hours every day, no days off," Ani Novshadian, the niece of the owner explained. "They worked so hard for it and now to have this loss."

Video showed the suspects raiding the cash registers and dragging a safe through the store and into a van waiting outside.

Novshadian said the safe had cash, gold, investments and some jewelry. In all, Novshadian said the value stolen was nearly $160,000.

But perhaps the most devastating item stolen was old family recipes used to run the catering side of the business.

"The hardest thing that we lost was all of my aunt's recipe books," Novshadian said.

Novshadian said the recipes date back to previous generations.

The family pleaded for help getting the recipes back.

"If anybody has any information or has seen anything, really we want to get those recipe books back," Novshadian said.

Detectives said their investigation into the burglary was ongoing. In the meantime, the Novshadian family said they were reinforcing the store security system.