Doing business in Philadelphia sure can be a difficult proposition.

Just ask Catherine "Cass" Gilbert.

Gilbert heads a family-owned chain of grocery stores that has been victimized seven times in the last 12 months by armed bandits who spirited away with thousands of dollars.

Combine those losses with other hurdles that business owners face -- institutional city roadblocks such as the business privilege tax and the rules of licensing agencies that merchants must comply with, skyrocketing insurance costs and difficulty finding dependable help -- and Philadelphia can be an unfriendly business environment, she says.

But the robberies hurt Gilbert most.

She is, understandably, at her wit's end.

After 31 years of doing business in the city, the string of robberies at her stores has Gilbert on the verge of abandoning her longtime business, Holiday Supermarkets.

The former Rhawnhurst resident noted that she already moved her home outside of the city, to Huntingdon Valley.

Though not entirely thrilled with the idea of closing shop, Gilbert, who operates six Holiday stores in Philadelphia, said the violence and related loss of revenue makes it a possibility.

Five of her Holiday supermarkets are located in the Northeast; the sixth is in Southwest Philadelphia.

Ironically, Gilbert noted, the Southwest Philly store, which folks might presume has a greater risk of being robbed, has been incident-free.

"You would think this would happen in Southwest Philly because it's a poorer neighborhood, but not in these stores," she said.

Three Northeast stores haven't been so lucky.

The alarming trend began last year on March 24, at the Holiday Shop-N-Bag at Welsh and Blue Grass roads.

Just before closing (around 9:50 p.m.), two gunmen wearing ski masks entered the store. One directed cashiers to empty their registers, while the other escorted the manager at gunpoint to the office safe and forced him to open it, threatening violence.

Within minutes, the suspects escaped on foot with more than $27,000.

"We got caught with our pants down," said Mark Gilbert, Cass' son, the grocery chain operations supervisor.

Insurance covered most of the monetary loss, he noted.

Hoping to prevent a repeat, store officials modified the market's hours and deposit schedule.

The bandits weren't outsmarted.

A little more than a month later, the tandem successfully struck the same store.

This time, they entered the store unnoticed just before closing and waited for the front doors to be locked.

Once sealed inside, they confronted the manager, led him to the safe and demanded that it be opened.

They fled with $18,500.

Though no one was hurt during the robbery, Cass Gilbert explained, the store manager, who had been twice victimized, was so "scared to death" he requested a transfer to another store.

Because the bandits wore ski masks and gloves, visual or fingerprint identification was impossible, officials from the police department's Northeast Detectives Division told the Times.

Though insurance covered the store's losses, Mark Gilbert said that verifying the dollar amount stolen was a tedious process.

"It took a lot of prep work," he explained. "We had to supply receipts to verify the revenue."

The Welsh Road store has since been spared, but other Holiday markets haven't.

Just before the 5 p.m. closing time on Sunday, Aug. 13, two masked bandits held up the Holiday Market at 6412 Castor Ave.

It was the first of four robberies at that site.

This time, the gunmen accosted a cashier and the store manager, respectively.

"They held up the cashier, who was checking out her (register), and held a gun to the manager's head and told him to lay on the floor," Cass Gilbert said. "They pulled money out of the drawer and the safe."

That heist netted the suspects $10,400.

After the third robbery, company officials changed several policies: large sums of money no longer are kept at the store. And security measures, including uniformed patrols and surveillance camera equipment, were added.

Unfortunately, the third time didn't seem to be a charm.

Just the opposite, in fact.

"Through the course of the three robberies, we had people quit or refuse to close the store," said Mark Gilbert. "It's made it hard to get people to man the stores."

Employee retention wasn't the only problem caused by the string of armed robberies. After the third heist, Holiday Supermarkets' insurance deductible was increased by 400 percent.

The day prior to the third crime, Gilbert said she had an ominous feeling after observing an individual in the store who she believed was casing the market.

Gilbert said employees that day had observed a man with a gun and became further alarmed when the individual asked a cashier what time the store closed.

Gilbert contacted the 2nd Police District, which dispatched officers to observe the Castor Avenue store.

Apparently, they arrived a day early. The store was robbed the next day.

The same store was hit again on Oct. 2, when a man struck in the middle of the afternoon. Gilbert said the gun-toting suspect entered the store and immediately rushed the manager's office, threatening the supervisor with his weapon.

He made off with the contents of the store safe, $16,500, but not before making an error -- he removed his mask before leaving the store.

That allowed witnesses and security cameras to get a glimpse of the suspect and provide police with a description. Police believe he is the same suspect who struck at the Castor Avenue Holiday Market twice more.

He allegedly robbed the market on Nov. 2, and again last month on March 4 -- nabbing $2,000 and $4,000 from the crimes, respectively.

The most recent robbery was on March 14, at Gilbert's Holiday Thriftway at Frankford Avenue and Pratt Street.

Two masked gunmen invaded the store just before its 9 p.m. closing and forced the manager to the safe. They emptied its contents, $9,000, and fled into the night.

Gilbert doesn't think that pair is the same set of bandits who twice robbed the Welsh Road store and are responsible for the first job at the Castor Avenue site.

Police aren't so sure.

They have linked that crime team to several grocery store robberies throughout the Northeast, speculating that the suspects might also be the culprits of robberies at several area supermarkets.

Lt. Jim Kerrigan, of Northeast Detectives, said the two suspects also are wanted for questioning in connection with a March 29 robbery and shooting at an Oxford Circle pharmacy.

They netted $154 from the heist, during which one of the suspects shot the store manager in the left leg, police said.

The threat of violence isn't the only issue that plagues Cass Gilbert. Financial concerns also weigh heavily on her mind: namely, the skyrocketing insurance policy.

She also complains about what she considers overly stringent standards by city agencies like the Department of Licenses and Inspections' weights and measures unit -- which inspects scanning equipment and scales at grocery stores -- and costly city business taxes.

"We're made out to be the bad guys," said Gilbert, "but I'm victimized every day. Not only by the public, but by city officials."

The feisty businesswoman, however, hasn't taken these lumps without a fight.

She adopted a proactive stance, recently meeting with representatives of the Mayor's Business Action Team, who offered suggestions to improve her business, and Police Commissioner John Timoney, who provided security and crime-prevention tips.

Despite those sessions, Gilbert said more must be done to protect local business interests before they all abandon the city.

"It is time for the mayor and City Council to take a long, hard look at the empty buildings and the exodus of business from our city," Gilbert said. "It is time to help the retailers and not treat them as the enemy. We need tax relief and protection, as well as less pressure from L&I."