’Tis the season for robberies.

Two men robbed at gunpoint a Hawaii Kai sports bar and grill early Tuesday morning, getting away with about $1,000 in cash and taking cellphones from customers, the bar’s manager said.

The Honolulu Police Department did not comment on robberies in general, but HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu said, “We often see an increase in bank robberies toward the end of the year.”

There’s been a string of Oahu bank robberies — six in the first 12 days of December — with the latest occurring Monday at the American Savings Bank’s main branch in downtown Honolulu.

“Investigators believe that the six bank robberies this month were committed by the same two or three suspects,” Yu said.

The number of Oahu bank robberies has jumped 69 percent from last year, with 22 this year compared with 13 in 2015, Yu said.

In Tuesday’s robbery two men armed with handguns entered The Shack in Hawaii Kai at 1:20 a.m. and took cash from the safe, police said.

Manager Dustin Keliikuli said the suspects pointed a gun at the bartender and forced her to open the restaurant’s safe, taking about $1,000.

They “told everybody to get on the ground” and took cellphones from customers before fleeing on foot along the marina, he said.

The bartender immediately called 911.

Keliikuli was not there at the time of the robbery, but said that “it would be totally scary. You don’t expect that, especially around here.”

Keliikuli said the bar was broken into twice about two months ago, adding that the safe was taken and estimating that the establishment has been burglarized four times in the past two years.

“This was the first time we got robbed at gunpoint,” he said.

Henry Ho, owner of Hi Pho, a restaurant next door, said, “My employees are afraid. Police should do something.”

Police and the Hawaii Kai Shopping Center’s security should work together to stop crime in the area, he said, including burglaries that have occurred at the shopping center.

“This time with the guns, that’s totally different,” Ho said.

Carl Johnsen, the shopping center’s manager, attributed the robbery and burglaries to the “bad behavior of the people who perpetrate these kind of things” and not a lack of security.

He said security guards patrol the center in the overnight hours and physically check in at checkpoints across the 10-acre site.

“I”ve been running this center for 20 years,” he said. “We’ve never had anything like that.”

“I think The Shack’s employees did a good job of reporting the robbery,” he said. “My understanding was the police were coming in the driveway when the bad guys got out the back door.”

He counts the robbery as an “aberrant occurrence” and hopes it’s not a sign of the times.

“Maybe it’s the season,” Johnsen said. “I don’t know.”

Police continue to look for suspects in the following December bank robberies:

>> Monday: A man walked into American Savings Bank’s main branch at 4:25 p.m. in downtown Honolulu and showed the teller a demand note. He then said, “This is a robbery,” and demanded cash. He fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.

>> Friday: A man in his 40s, 5 feet to 5 feet 4 inches tall, wearing a beanie and a gray jacket, robbed the Kaimuki branch of Bank of Hawaii at 11:39 a.m. He handed the teller a demand note and said he had a weapon. He fled on foot with cash. He is said to walk with a waddle.

>> Dec. 6: A man in his 50s robbed the Waikiki branch of First Hawaiian Bank at about 3 p.m. He handed the teller a demand note, threatened to harm the teller and fled with cash. He is about 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighs about 198 pounds.

>> Dec. 3: A man in his 40s, who stands about 5 feet to 5 feet 4 inches tall, with a medium build, thinning black hair and brown eyes, walked into the Wal-Mart branch of the American Savings Bank at 700 Keeaumoku St. at 11:05 a.m. and handed a demand note to the teller, then fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash.

>> Dec. 3: A man with a similar description, but with gray hair, entered at 10:15 a.m. the Chinatown branch of Bank of Hawaii, at 101 N. King St., handed a demand note to the teller and said he had a weapon, then fled with money.

>> Dec. 2: “The Waddler,” a man in his 50s who walks with a distinctive waddle, robbed the First Hawaiian Bank at 1580 Kapiolani Blvd. The suspect approached the teller, handed her a demand note and indicated he had a weapon, police said. He fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash. He is about 5 feet 5 inches tall, with a stocky build. He had white hair and a white mustache.

Anyone with information on the Hawaii Kai robbery or any of the bank robberies is urged to call police or CrimeStoppers at 955-8300.

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Rosemarie Bernardo contributed to this report.