Robbers have repeatedly targeted 7-Eleven stores across Oakland that frustrated store owners said the crime is making it nearly impossible to hire employees, especially for overnight shifts.

The latest hold-up occurred Thursday morning at 4:40 a.m. at the MacArthur Boulevard 7-Eleven in the Dimond District, where the lone cashier ran to the back room for safety as two robbers forcefully pulled open the locked front doors to take boxes of cigarettes and the cash register.

The store, which operates 24/7, keeps its doors locked overnight so cashiers can manually screen each customer — a precaution that has become standard for some stores due to repeated robberies.

Amardeep Brar, better known as A.D., is a board director with the American Petroleum & Convenience Store Association, which rep

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