Pizza shops, service stations and hardware stores around Alice Springs sell different goods but share the same story.
They’ve all been robbed or ransacked in recent months.
David Moore from the BP truck stop said the crime spree was the worst he'd ever seen.
The service station was broken into over the weekend, and spare car keys were stolen, meaning all staff cars must be locked in the yard during the day.
But that still hasn’t stopped damage from being done, with rocks being hurled over the fence and smashing truck windows. Fuel pumps have also been damaged.
“There are drunks on the street, there’s fighting on the street that wasn’t happening before,” Moore told AAP, in reference to the mandatory alcohol bans ending six months ago.
“The kids have gotten a lot worse, breaking and entering, stealing cars, smashing property.”
Kathy Fritz from Kathy’s Place Bed and Breakfast said guests had been affected and she had rocks thrown at her car while driving into town.
Ms Fritz said while she hadn’t personally been attacked, violent assaults were happening every day.
“You only have to go down to the centre. There’s yelling and screaming and throwing chairs. Alice is a small town and people talk,” she said.
“A lot of people are scared, especially older people.”
Sammy’s Pizza owner AJ Brar said women and children had stopped going out, fearing for their safety.
He has also found it hard to get delivery drivers who fear being attacked or having their cars damaged.
“Nobody wants to drive now,” he said.
The restaurant was recently attacked, but the criminals failed to break through the security bars. However, they still managed to smash the windows.
Brenton Joy from local Mitre 10 has lived in Alice Springs for 50 years and is finding it difficult to find staff.
He said the local bakery had been robbed 40 times and had to erect concrete bollards to stop ram raids.
“It’s disgusting what’s going on, and people are leaving town,” he said.
“We have shutters on our doors and windows, but we have been ram-raided. They come in stealing glue, sniffable substances and hand sanitiser to drink.
“At the moment they’re now running with weapons. I don’t want to go shopping any time of the day because they’re doing this during daylight.”
A truck driver was stood up at knifepoint earlier this week and had his vehicle stolen.
When he found it there was $8000 worth of tools missing. But Joy said he was lucky to get the truck back at all, with stolen vehicles usually torched.
AAP contacted a local Indigenous legal service for comment, speaking to a person who did not wish to be named.
The person said demand for their services had reached capacity but noted crime rates had always been high in Alice Springs.
