"They are a little bit arrogant now ... they opened the door of every freezer and propped them up so things would be defrosted, and got trays of eggs and threw them around."
Brew Cafe was burgled seven times last year and Rocco, which backs onto the Thames police station, was targeted five times.
TCA Gym co-owner and long-time Thames resident Dave McCoid said: "There's something definitely amiss in the town. Thames is an old demographic - there's quite a high percentage of retired people - so it should have an extremely low crime rate."
The Thames Golf Club's grounds suffered thousands of dollars of damage when a scooter was stolen on the night of January 3 and golf carts were taken on joyrides.
On the same night security guard Mark Hoskin was bashed and gouged in the eyes when he interrupted five intruders at Thames Race Course.
Three days earlier vandals had broken into the club, pulling out all the audio equipment onto the floor.
They had left a graffiti message reading: "Haha you asshole, catch me if you can."
During the second break-in, tomato sauce was splattered all over the walls and windows.
Thames resident Aaron Turoa, whose cars were broken into on Boxing Day, said the attack on Mr Hoskin was the catalyst for setting up Facebook group Thames Stop the Crime.
The Facebook group has grown to nearly 400 members and a community meeting with police held last week attracted 100 people.
"In Thames there are a lot of people that are old, they are alone, they are scared," said Mr Turoa. "For the businesses here, it's hard enough to make a living here normally without getting robbed every week."
Senior Sergeant Graham Shields said there had been a spate of burglaries but they had declined after the police arrested some suspects.
While one burglary a night "was a big problem for a little town like Thames", he said it was nothing compared with Hamilton where there could be 10 a night.
