AN ASIAN clothes shop in York is being targeted by vandals who have smashed windows and stolen jewellery.

Monwara Kabir who runs the Asian clothes shop Muskan, on Walmgate, said since she opened the shop last year they have had their windows broken on three different occasions.

Recently a glue-like substance was poured all over the windows which was difficult to clear off.

She said: "We do not know why people are doing this, maybe it is because of our different culture and maybe because they are racists.

"I do not think other shops in the area have the same sort of things happening."

Mrs Kabir, who is originally from Bengal, now lives in Fulford with her husband and three children.

She opened the shop, which is thought to be the only one of its kind in the city, in March 2001.

It sells a range of Indian clothes, jewellery, fabrics, bedding and accessories as well as clothing from Africa.

Since opening it has proved a huge success and now has more English customers than Asian.

Mrs Kabir said: "People are happy to see multi-coloured clothes and different dresses and we get quite a lot of people coming in."

Mrs Kabir said she has had a very warm welcome from most of the people in York but the incidents of vandalism have left her feeling "awful".

She said: "It has happened in the night when people have smashed the window with something heavy.

"On one occasion someone smashed the windows and took jewellery and another time my husband was here at Christmas and three boys smashed a window for no reason.

"We feel awful, we are a new shop. Each window costs us about £700 and because it is happening our insurance goes up."

Mr Kabir said because of the huge success of the shop she is determined to persevere and ignore the "narrow-minded small part of the population."

She said she will continue selling Indian items in the shop due to the popular demand and the number of satisfied customers.

Updated: 11:58 Tuesday, September 03, 2002