A street race ended in broken glass, shattered brick and a car jammed halfway inside Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen in Oakland on June 4. The car drove into the ground-floor downtown eatery on Sunday afternoon, causing extensive damage.

“Thank God we were closed and nobody was inside,” said Evan Bloom, co-founder of Wise Sons. “There would have been some major fatalities.”

This is the second time a car has crashed into the deli on the corner of 17th and Franklin streets.

“Fifteen months ago the same thing happened, at the same store,” Bloom said. “Same window!”

Bloom said police told him that the car, an Acura, was racing with another vehicle before the driver lost control. The car slammed through Wise Sons’ plate glass window and brickwork, destroying the counter. The driver escaped on foot.

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The damage is extensive, Bloom said, and he worries about keeping the business insured. The store has also been broken into “five or six times this year,” he said. “It’s a big hit.”

Wise Sons opened its Oakland outpost in 2020. It also has delis in San Francisco, Lafayette, Mill Valley, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Culver City and Tokyo.

The Oakland store, which is a few blocks west of Lake Merritt, will be closed for at least a month, but Bloom said people in the East Bay can still get their Wise Sons fix at the Beauty’s Bagel Shop on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland. Wise Sons bought Beauty’s in 2020.

Bloom said Wise Sons wants to stay in downtown Oakland, but it’s been a struggle, especially with this latest incident.

“Next time we may not be so lucky,” he said.