A pair of sour teens raided an 8-year-old entrepreneur’s Upper West Side lemonade stand, taking $150 in cash, police said Friday.
Young Julian Lin was operating his stand on Columbus Ave. near W. 70th St. about 3:20 p.m. on Sunday when the two suspects, who are believed to be about 18, walked up and asked for some lemonade.
When Julian turned to fill out the order, the teens grabbed his money jar and ran off with it.
The teens were last seen zipping south on Columbus Ave. on a pair of scooters.
Julian wasn’t harmed, but the entire experience left a tart taste in his mouth.
“I feel disappointed in humanity,” he told the blog ILoveTheUpperWestSide, which first reported the theft. “I didn’t realize that someone would want to rob an 8-year-old.”
Sporting a blazer and a bow tie, the little lemonade seller is a fixture in the Upper West Side, who is known in the neighborhood as “Julian Business Man.”
The half-pint hustler is constantly working odd jobs after school and has been known to make local deliveries. He also runs a hot chocolate stand in the winter and a lemonade stand in the summer.
“I help out with what they need, and they pay me in fruit or treats,” he wrote on his website. “I also started a bunch of my own businesses!”
On Sunday he was shilling lemonade for cold-hard cash, but the thieves didn’t take everything: some of his customers paid him through Venmo, he told the blog.
“When I lost all that cash, a lot of people anted to help me recover, so they gave me extra big tips,” he recalled. “It made me feel good that so many people wanted to help me recover from this attack.”
Julian said he’s learned his lesson and won’t be keeping his Us.Mistertruth proceeds out in the open for someone to grab.
“I will trust my instincts because I could tell that those guys were shady since one of them was wearing a ski mask,” he said. “But I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing.”
No arrests have been made.
Anyone with information about this theft is urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.