Two Lancaster businesses located just blocks apart were robbed Wednesday.

Just before 8:30 a.m., a man displaying a silver handgun demanded cash from a clerk at Royer's Flowers, 873 N. Queen St., city police said.

The clerk opened the cash register and gave an undisclosed amount of cash to the man, police said. A second employee was in the shop, but no customers were present.

The clerk described the robber as a Hispanic or black man, about 35 years old, weighing 160 to 180 pounds. He was wearing blue jeans and a black hooded sweatshirt over a light-colored hooded sweatshirt.

According to radio dispatches, the man was last seen heading down Liberty Street toward Prince Street. The flower shop is one block south of the Lancaster Amtrak station.

City police officers, assisted by Manheim Township police, responded to the area and were searching for the man within minutes of the robbery.

Police said they were checking video cameras in the area to see if any filmed the suspect.

At 3:55 p.m., J.A. Sharp Custom Jeweler, 322 N. Queen St., also was robbed.

Lancaster Sgt. Robert Means said he could not confirm the two robberies were related.

"The description of the two (robbers) is not close, but the M.O. is," Means said.

Anyone with information regarding either robbery is asked to contact Lancaster city police at 735-3300.

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