Charlottesville police are investigating the third robbery at the Barracks Road Shopping Center in the past three weeks.
The most recent incident occurred at the Lindt Chocolate Shop around noon Sunday, just before the store opened.
The suspect is described as a white male, 6-feet-tall, between 25-and-30-years-old. He is described as having light brown or blond eyebrows.
"This is the same suspect as in the other robberies," City Spokesman Maurice Jones said.
The suspect banged on the windows and flashed a gun at an employee inside. He demanded money and the employee gave him an undisclosed sum. He then fled the scene.
The chocolate shop robbery follows the Feb. 29 robbery of the Barnes & Noble Bookstore and the Feb. 16 robbery of Ben and Jerry's Scoop Shop. The suspect in all three cases has the same description.
The most recent incident is the first related armed robbery at Barracks Road Shopping Center to occur during daylight hours. The Ben and Jerry's robbery occurred at 11 p.m. and the Barnes and Noble robbery occurred at approximately 10 p.m.
Management at the Barracks Road Lindt Chocolate Shop declined to comment on the incident. The Lindt and Sprngli Company could not be reached for comment.
The Barracks Road Shopping Center is a popular shopping destination for University students. Some students expressed concern that because of the robberies, the shopping center might not be a safe place to visit anymore.
"It frightens me very much. It makes me not want to shop down there because I don't feel safe," first-year College student Katie Dressel said. "I walked down there myself the other week and it never occurred to me that there were people holding store owners at gunpoint."
"I think it's really scary," second-year College student Provi Spina said. "I definitely would not go over there by myself anymore."
Some students expressed concern that security at the shopping center may not be adequate.
"I think the management at Barracks has an obligation to keep their shoppers safe and they're going to have to do something about this," second-year College student Youri Chou said. "If they can budget money to make the store fronts pretty, they can budget some money to get some security guards."
Anyone with information on these cases is encouraged to contact the Charlottesville City Police at 970-3280.
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