One of Richmond’s oldest family jewelry stores is recovering from late-night looting and vandalism last weekend by rogue elements attached to local protests of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Surveillance cameras showed that Waller & Co. Jewelers at 19 E. Broad St. suffered damage last Friday and Saturday when the shop’s front window and inside jewelry cases were broken and merchan- dise was stolen, said Richard Waller Jr., owner of the 120-year-old business that has been in the family for four generations.

Mr. Waller and his son, David, were busy Wednesday morning taking inventory for insurance claims.

Mr. Waller said he is not sure yet of the value of all of the items that were stolen when the store was ransacked.

One family treasure, a 1922 display case, survived with its merchandise intact. He showed it off Wednesday, noting that he cleaned the case as a youngster when he started helping out in the shop that was founded by his grandfather, Marcellus C. Waller, in 1900.

“The family is happy vandals didn’t touch it,” he said of the display case. “We are going to be alright. This is just a bump in the road.”

Mr. Waller recalled surviving past unrest in Richmond following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968.

At the time, “looters came through the back of my store and took everything out of my only showcase,” he said. The store was located north of Broad Street then, in a building rented from Barky’s Record Store.

“We lived through it,” he said.

Mr. Waller said his faith is keeping him strong and optimistic now. On Sunday morning, about 80 members of black sororities and fraternities showed up at the store to help with the cleanup. Mr. Waller said he and his family were surprised.

Because all the glass had been cleaned up, he said, “they helped the store by buying fraternity and sorority merchandise. One of the sorority members built us a GoFundMe page.”

After the second night of vandalism, Mr. Waller posted a sign on the plywood covering the shop’s broken windows. It said: “Waller & Co. Jewelers is a small black-owned business. Please don’t break our windows. Thanks.”

Other small businesses are working to salvage what remains and continue operations.

“I’m definitely trying to continue to go forward, but it took a toll,” said Leonard G. Blue, president of Experimax of Richmond, an Apple computer sales and repair shop in the 1300 block of West Main Street near Virginia Commonwealth University.

Vandals broke in through the front of his store and stole computers in the shop for repair. “I’m just taking it a day at a time,” Mr. Blue said.

The destruction and looting have been blamed largely on outside agitators, but nothing further has been confirmed. Some Richmond residents have been volunteering to help clean up and repair the damage where they can.

“I’m truly grateful to the community of the city of Richmond and the surrounding community for reaching out to us and making sure we’re doing OK,” Mr. Blue said.

He suggested people interested in helping donate used electronics for recycling or help replace inventory.

On Friday night, a largely white crowd reportedly sought to burn Jamal’s Hair Salon in the 300 block of North 1st St., only to be stopped by the owner who was sleeping insite on Friday and Saturday night.

A similarly described group tried to burn the 2C Condominium Building Apartments, formerly the Virginia Mutual Insurance Co. building at 2nd and Clay streets in Jackson Ward on Saturday night, according to Wanda Stallings, whose family owns the building.

Ms. Stallings said a resident stopped the group by showing the buildings were owned by Ms. Stallings’ family, pulling up on a cell phone records from the city assessor’s office and a photo of Ms. Stallings. An accelerant poured

in front of the building before the crowd was halted was later washed away by the Richmond Fire Department, Ms. Stallings said.

Barksdale “Barky” Haggins, owner of the Barky’s Spiritual Store at 18 E. Broad St., said people on the streets avoided looting or damaging his business, which was started in 1956 nearby on First Street.

He said he is contributing financially to the repair and restocking of other businesses that weren’t as fortunate.

Mr. Haggins expressed concern about the potential negative impact a focus on the damage and looting will have on businesses that are trying to stay afloat despite restrictions caused by the pandemic.

“They’re a lot of people who would like to come out, but they’re afraid,” he said.

Richmond City Councilwoman Kim B. Gray, vice chair of the council’s Public Safety Committee, was out on Friday, Saturday and Sunday helping businesses clean up and board up.

She held an impromptu 90-minute meeting Monday with Marvin Smith, owner of The Barber Shop On2 at 420 N. 2nd St., and several other business owners, where they vented their concerns and brainstormed solutions to the issues that had sparked the protests.

“They wanted to let people know they are not collateral damage and don’t want to be,” Ms. Gray said.

Ideas from the meeting included more community policing, greater civilian oversight of law enforcement, increased transparency from the police department and more connections between police and community.

Free Press staff writer Jeremy M. Lazarus contributed to this article.