New York City’s crime wave has seeped into a quiet pocket of Queens known for bustling businesses and heavy foot traffic — with some locals telling The Post it’s the most unsafe they’ve felt in decades.

The enclave of Flushing, covered by the NYPD’s 109th precinct, has seen a shocking surge in robberies and grand larcenies that has left workers and business workers on edge.

“The area is horrible. It’s getting so bad,” said Monica Ortiz, the store manager at GNC on Flushing’s Main Street.

“I’ve lived in the area for 30 years and I never felt so unsafe.”

Ortiz said she’s worked at the health and nutrition store for the last two decades, but that the number of robberies has gotten worse over the last two years.

“I didn’t see that situation before. The way how it is now — never,” she told The Post on Wednesday.

The area has had to contend with 288 reported robberies for the first 11 months of 2022, an increase of 113% from the same time last year, according to NYPD statistics.

The increase was especially pronounced over the past four weeks, with 30 robberies compared to 11 in the same 28-day period in 2021.

Grand larcenies, meanwhile, were up to 1,400 so far this year compared to 828 tallied between January and November 2021, for a 69% increase.

A high-ranking police source told The Post that the area “was struggling,” as workers and residents complained of increased attacks and palpable fear.

A 74-year-old security guard at a Marshalls on College Point Boulevard — part of the The Shops at SkyView mall — was assaulted in October by two thieves who pushed him inside the store and took his bag.

“So many people stealing from other people,” the guard, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Post by phone Wednesday.

Other workers inside the Shops at Skyview said crime is an everyday occurrence.

“It’s thieves that come in every day and trying their luck,” said Fred, a security guard inside the Nike clearance store. “That’s not even just here. That’s throughout the whole mall.”

Fred, who declined to use his last name, added: “There’s always people stealing. People come in here everyday and try to steal.”

One sticky-fingered regular even comes in and boosts goods by the armful.

“[He] walks out with an armful of stuff and says ‘I’m sorry’ and just keeps moving,” said Fred, who’s worked at the store for a few months.

“Thieves can walk into the store and grab what they want and walk out. The law stated that you can’t touch them… I’m here for a deterrent,” he said.

Monica, the store manager at GNC, also said the store has employed a security guard to try to ward off thieves.

“We have a lot of people come inside with big jackets and big bags. We had to put a security guard in here for that reason,” Ortiz said.

“Inside in here, we had one person come here to steal. When I told her to leave, she just pushed me and went out running.”

In the beginning of the year one crook stole $1,700 worth of collagen, she said. 

“He emptied two shelves. That’s why we lock these things and have a security guard here,” she said, showing the locked collagen shelf. 

“Now I feel unsafe outside,” she added. “Before the pandemic, we closed the store at 11 at nighttime. Now we close the store at 8 and are afraid to go out at night when it’s dark. We all feel it.”

As The Post spoke to the guard at the mall Wednesday afternoon, two police officers were seen outside the Marshalls texting on their phones, before patrolling the Nike store.

An off-duty cop moonlighting as a Duane Reade security guard said there has been an influx of New York’s Finest on the street amid the rise in crime.

“You see all the new cops out because of the increase in grand larceny and petit larceny in the area,” he said, declining to give his name.

“You see it across the city. People pretty much walk into the store and walk out. It hasn’t been a secret.”

He pointed to New York state’s controversial 2019 bail reform measures — which eliminated cash bail for most misdemeanor and nonviolent felony cases — for emboldening thieves.

“We have a lot of people who take advantage of bail reform, where they basically come and shop and leave with two bags of stuff,” he said.

“They tell the store workers ‘you can’t touch me’ as they walk out. They tell you ‘arrest me and I’ll be out in a few hours.’”

He added: “Perps in the city are very vocal about how they’ll just get released. It’s sad they are right.”

A manager at Flushing Optical Inc. on Main Street said she was glad to see extra cops in the area after two men ran off with Cartier sunglasses worth $4,000 last month.

“They wanted to try them on. They said ‘I like this and could I try it on?’” Jessica Hsu, 54, recalled.

Then: “They just grabbed the glasses and ran away.”

She said she filed a police report but said “it doesn’t really help,” because after 30 years of being in business in the neighborhood she’s never seen her stolen goods recouped.

Still, the woman, who declined to give her name, welcomed the increased presence of the NYPD.

“It’s a really busy street so there should be cops around. We should at least see somebody. When we see cops, we feel safe.”

The nearby 111th and 112th police precincts were also “struggling,” a law enforcement source said.

Robberies were up some 200% so far this year in the 111, which encompasses Bayside, Douglaston, Little Neck, Auburndale, Hollis Hills, and Fresh Meadows, statistics show.

Further west in Forrest Hills and Rego Park, two murders were recorded this year compared to none in 2021, and robbery, felony assault and grand larceny all saw increases of at least 50%.

The 109 also saw a 144% increase in rape, to 39 in 2022 compared to 16 over the same time period last year.

Citywide, serious crime was down over the past week and month compared to the same time periods last year, but up 25% in 2022 to date with a 12% decline in murder being the only bright spot for the NYPD, statistics showed.

A College Point resident who was waiting for the Q20 bus on Main Street said she started carrying pepper spray last year and continues to be cautious when she commutes.

“Its not something to look forward to, going to the subway,” said the 55-year-old secretary, Kathy, adding she goes into the city from Flushing three days a week. 

“I’m now more cautious because there are homeless and odd people coming up to you,” she said.

A worker inside Assasin Tattoos, recounted an attack on a female customer over the summer at the 37th Street store in which police said a man beat a female customer with a baton.

“It’s maybe a little bit dangerous, it’s scary,” said the worker, Leah Li, 30, who started working at the shop three days ago. 

“Maybe because of the [COVID] virus, it’s happening more often than last year.”