WICKER PARK — A shop clerk was stabbed during an armed robbery at the Green Goddess Boutique, along a tony shopping stretch of Damen Avenue that both Wicker Park and Bucktown lay claim to on Wednesday.
According to Officer Janel Sedevic, a Chicago Police spokeswoman, an unknown man stabbed a 32-year-old female worker then fled the scene around 12:55 p.m.
The man entered the shop "under the false presence of buying an item, then when the [clerk] had the register open, he displayed a knife and demanded cash and fled with an unknown amount of currency," Sedevic said.
Sedevic said that Area North Detectives are investigating.
Alisa Hauser details the robbery and says it's unusual in this area:
The scene of an armed robbery at Green Goddess Boutique Wednesday. [Scott Hess]
Kelly Pauker, a witness, said she was shopping with her mother and friend when she entered the shop, 1648 N. Damen Ave., and saw the injured worker.
"At first we couldn't hear because the door to the street was open and there was a lot of traffic, so we thought she was saying, 'I'll be right out [to help],' but then we heard her say, 'Help, I was robbed, please help,'" Pauker said.
Pauker called 911 and then locked the doors to the shop and banged on windows until police and a ambulance arrived.
The victim, who suffered a non-life threatening wound to her hand, was taken to St. Mary's Hospital and is in good condition, Sedevic said.
The robber was described as a black man about 6-foot-tall, weighing 220 pounds, wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and driving a red or burgundy sedan, according to police on the scene.
"You don't expect to see someone robbed and bleeding on a Wednesday afternoon while shopping. I hope they catch him," Pauker said.
Scott Hess, a local resident, said he saw Paulson and two other women banging on the window calling for help, and then watched the worker with her bandaged hand get into an ambulance.
"I'm glad she's okay," Hess said.
Green Goddess, an expansion of a Hinsdale-based shop that also has spots in Lincoln Park, opened last May on Damen Avenue.
A spokeswoman for the shop said the store and a neighborhood resident are offering a $10,000 reward to anyone with information that will lead to an arrest of the robber.
Green Goddess Boutique will be closed on Thursday, though its Lincoln Park store will be open.
Anyone with information can send tips directly to the Chicago Police Department, or call 312-744-8266.
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