The women, who have run the San Jose market for more than a decade, are upset after security camera footage showed two suspects punching and pushing the women.
The store owner said the incident happened on Wednesday when the suspect tried to steal some beer.
Phuong Tong has run Smile Market on North 4th Street in San Jose for 16 years and said he has never experienced anything like this.
Her sister was working behind the register when a man and woman tried to pay for beer, she said.
However, her sister noticed the man had hidden a second bottle of beer.
“We have a camera here and we can see he put it in his pants,” Tong said.
Her sister confronted them and things turned violent.
The video shows a beer can hidden in the man’s trousers and Tong’s sister tugging on the man’s shirt.
He shoved her to the ground and before she could get up he landed punches on her and pulled her hair.
At the same time, Tong was out on his way to the market.
“My sister came outside and said, ‘He hit me, he hit me!’ so I stopped them. I was holding the stroller because I wanted to say, ‘Why did you hit my sister?'” Tong said.
The video shows the two sisters outside and Tong being pushed to the ground and pulled by her hair.
“I’ve never had anything like that happen in my life. It’s the first time in my life,” Tong said.
San Jose police said the suspect fled before officers arrived.
Tong, meanwhile, returned to work on Monday.
“Customers ask me, ‘Are you OK?'” she said. “Yeah, I love my customers.”
Many of them have seen the video, which Tong’s daughter-in-law, Katherine, posted to social media, where it has been viewed tens of thousands of times.
“It’s really hard when your parents-in-law get hurt. It could have happened to anyone – a loved one, a friend – and it could have been a lot worse, but thankfully it wasn’t,” Kathleen said.
The owner said that he and his sister both went to hospital and are doing better now, but of course they are still shaken up.
Police are investigating.
