SAN ANTONIO – A shattered window and tens of thousands of dollars worth of stolen merchandise have left owners of a 3-in-1 vintage shop picking up the pieces.
The Thrift Thru, WearHouse, and Hyped Goods share a shop on San Pedro Avenue and W Woodlawn Avenue, north of downtown. Early Monday morning, someone broke into their shop, taking $10,000 to $15,000 worth of items from the businesses.
“Immediately, it’s just kind of panic like this is our whole life as small business owners. It’s really devastating,” said Payton Samudio, owner of Thrift Thru.
The owners believe the suspects had been in the store before because they went straight to the most expensive items before making a quick getaway.
“Out of all the racks they could find, they went straight for the most expensive one, the same thing within Hyped Goods,” Samudio added, “Of course, the money of it all is heartbreaking, but also just the time we have put into curating these clothes over the years, and they’re just gone,” Samudio said,
The store has security cameras, but the owners say they weren’t working during the break-in. The only footage captured doesn’t show much, but it picked up some audio of suspects running throughout the store.
Monday’s break-in isn’t the shop’s first experience with stolen property. According to San Antonio police, they have been called to the location five times in the last seven months for either burglary or theft.
“Last time, we believe that they just rammed themselves into the window because there was a lot of blood. This time, they used something to break through our window and to get out. They actually used -- threw this bench,” Samudio told KSAT.
The owners of the 3-in-1 shop have boarded their windows and plan to up their security. They say they fear vintage shops may become targets due to increased popularity.
