Seattle store burglarized 12 times in 18 months – KIRO 7 News Seattle

SEATTLE – A surveillance video from a downtown store shows nearly a dozen people shuffling in to steal products in what the owner believes was a “targeted” attack – the break-in is said to be the twelfth in the past year and a half.

For the past 28 years, locals and tourists alike have found their one-stop shop for Seattle-centric swag on the corner of 1st Avenue and Pine Street – Simply Seattle.

“We worked really hard to introduce Storm and Sonic gear and just celebrate what makes Seattle cool from a sporting and cultural perspective,” said owner Jamie Munson. “It’s a small local company, we like to find the unique things that nobody else has.”

Buyers went in and out all Thursday, rummaging the various sections and searching the walls of the goods.

Next to the curved outer windows, there’s now a door that’s nailed up with a fresh piece of plywood, and broken glass is studded on the sidewalk.

“My phone buzzed with the little alarm at four in the morning,” Munson said. “I thought, ‘Oh no, not again.”

It is extremely discouraging and terribly annoying to wake up to burglar alarms so often. This could be the worst. We tried to hold out in downtown Seattle, but the circumstances make it very difficult. pic.twitter.com/AkjrcaASJV

– Simplyseattle (@simplyseattle) July 1, 2021

Security cameras inside the company recorded the incident when a person breaks a hole in the plywood covering the door and walks inside.

Almost a dozen people then crawl through the hole, stuff their pockets with high-priced items, and take off.

“It seemed very focused, very targeted,” Munson said. “It was very quick, very active.”

The plywood was meant to be a temporary fix after a break-in last week that broke the glass from the door.

“It just felt hurtful, if you will, just people walking through the door one at a time and taking advantage of the door we broke in last week that was plywood,” Munson said.

Munson said the thieves stole the Storm team’s new gear that was currently in stock and entire shelves of Sonic jerseys (which cost about $ 130 each).

Overall, he estimates the product to be worth about $ 15 thousand.

“It’s just so powerful to feel that people come into your shop and just pillage you,” Munson said.

To make matters worse, it didn’t happen to them the first time – as I said, only last week … but not the second time either.

“To be honest, I kind of lost track of it,” Munson said. “Our window repair people and the insurance person are unfortunately on speed dial.”

Munson believes this was the twelfth break-in incident in the last 18 months.

“We worked hard to curate this cool collection of things that other people don’t have and for some reason we’re a target right now and it’s hard to deal with and see,” he said.

Munson said they toyed with sealing expensive products or putting grilles on the windows.

“All of these are an expensive solution and I also think they are sending an inhospitable message to the downtown area and we don’t want to be about that,” Munson said.

Munson said moving is out of the question because they not only have a lease but also on their behalf.

“Our name is Simply Seattle, and that’s who we want to be and what we are about … being in the heart of downtown,” he explained.

The idea of ​​moving 100 percent of the company’s operations to the Internet also came up, but Munson doesn’t want to lose personal interaction with people in the community.

When it comes to insurance, you are insured. But they can’t file a lawsuit every time they break in.

In many cases, the amount of the stolen product and damage does not match their deductible, so it doesn’t make sense for them to file a claim and increase their premiums.

“We always do this dance, does it make sense? [file a claim] or not, this one [we] probably because it’s big enough, but we’ve had a number of them last year where we just had to try food… there’s no point in filing the insurance claim if it’s just coming back to bite us, ”Munson explained.

On a larger scale, the Downtown Seattle Association (DSA) is working to revitalize the neighborhood and bring guests back to the area hard hit by the pandemic.

According to the DSA, 80 percent of the shops in the city center were able to reopen after the closings forced by COVID. And while they’ve seen 279 new street-level restaurants, retail and service businesses since last January – 462 have been permanently closed in the same period.

DSA and its governing business improvement district, the Metropolitan Improvement District, are currently running a more than $ 3 million package to aid the recovery of downtown Seattle.

The package includes improved cleaning and beautification work, homeless assistance, public art installations, community events and a communication and marketing campaign. It also provides $ 150,000 for increased police presence.

Still, even DSA demands more. DSA sent the following statement to KIRO-7.

“Our businesses that managed to stay open during the pandemic cannot afford the added burden of ongoing shoplifting. Our city and county guides need to figure out how to solve the problem that has become an expensive and common problem for far too many companies. “

Unfortunately, figuring out a way to put an end to the theft is not that easy for companies like Simply Seattle.

“We don’t have an answer, but we know we love Seattle and we want to be part of the solution,” said Munson.

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