Staff arrived at Boots, on Derby Road, on Monday morning to find a back door had been forced open, cash tills raided and thousands of pounds worth of perfume stolen from the cabinets.

It was a similar story at Hallmark Thorntons, on Oxford Street, where intruders got away with boxes full of loose change donated to charity.

The Ripley Practice of Osteopathic Medicine on the Market Place was also broken into and a small amount of cash stolen.

Mark Rees, managing director of Penmark Cards, which operates the Hallmark Thorntons franchise in Ripley, said: "They seem to have used a crowbar on the back door.

"I would stress that we keep no money on the premises at all so they haven't been able to steal anything other than the charity boxes.

"As always it is just the irritation of it. We had a spate of break-ins at the back end of 2008 and the start of this year and obviously the more break-ins you have the more careful you are about what you leave in the shop over night.

"It's the damage to the shop that's the problem and it is unnerving for the staff to come in in the morning and find the shop has been broken into – it's not nice for them."

Christine Marriott from the Ripley Practice of Osteopathic Medicine that is based above the Smart Move estate agents on the Market Place said: "They have crowbarred a metal shutter and forced the door open to get in. We've never had a problem like this before.

"They only got away with a very small amount of petty cash, we don't keep money on the premises at all so it's mainly the damage to the doors and the cupboards that they have done while searching for money.

"All the patients' files were secure."

A spokesman for Boots said: "We the health and safety of our customers and people very seriously. We can confirm an incident took place at the Boots store, High Street, Ripley on the evening of the November 15. This is a police matter and we are continuing to assist them with their enquiries."

A spokesman for Derbyshire Police said: "We are looking closely at these cases and the similarities and links.

"Obviously the properties targeted are in close proximity and the break-ins all happened at about the same time with a similar method of gaining entry so we are looking at them as linked."

Anybody with any information should contact Derbyshire Police on 0345 123 3333 or Crimestoppers in confidence on 0800 555 111.