Pokemon thieves clear out collectibles shop

Terri Settle loved watching children walk into her collectibles shop to hunt for their favourite Pokemon cards.

After the latest break in stripped her shelves of much of the inventory, she’s not sure she’ll get to see it again.

Thieves broke into Terri’s Trinkets and Toys on Tuesday evening, punching through a grate and then the store’s bathroom wall to reach the storefront.

They made off with about $6,000 worth of merchandise, including all of the store’s Pokemon cards — about 7,000 of them — along with toys, Lego, jewelry, video games, a debit machine and personal laptop. They even took her vacuum cleaner.

“They didn’t touch the yarn,” Settle said Friday as she prepared to reopen her Elmwood-area shop.

The thieves also cleaned out her freezer, taking Popsicles and juice boxes Settle kept on hand to give to children who came into the store.

She believes the Pokemon cards were the main draw.

The highest-priced cards from the popular collectible trading game were stored behind the counter where Settle normally sits. They were taken, too, leading her to believe whoever broke in knew exactly where to look.

“They knew were everything was that they wanted, they took all of the good stuff,” Settle said. “I have a lot of Pokemon cards, a lot of Yu-Gi-Oh cards, a lot of hockey cards. I have a lot of costume jewelry, so they took all of the necklaces, all of the rings.”

Winnipeg police confirmed Friday having received a report of a commercial break-in at the store, where property valued at over $5,000 was stolen. The investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made.

A resurgence of interest in Pokemon cards over the last several years has spiked a demand that has outstripped supply, collectors told the Free Press. Cards have become more valuable and harder to find.

“It’s like the No. 1 seller for every shop right now, and it’s so tough to get these days,” said Curtis Howson, who owns First Row Collectibles.

Howson’s Main Street shop, which he runs with his son, has been broken into three times over the last couple of years. He recently had the store’s front window replaced after a break in last October.

He said he’s reluctant to keep higher priced Pokemon cards in his store at night anymore, and takes cards worth hundreds of dollars home with him instead.

“It sucks to do that because what other kind of store has to do that,” he said.

Howson said he wasn’t surprised to learn details about the break in at Terri’s Trinkets and Toys.

“Every time we’ve been broken into, when we watch the (security footage) we can see that the people know where they’re going,” he said. “They’re going right to the most expensive stuff.”

Like Howson, Settle has dealt with break ins before.

In 2023, someone tore an air conditioner from an outside wall to get inside. Last year, thieves tossed a brick through the front door.

The latest incident will change how she does business, Settle said. She no longer plans to keep Pokemon cards on display, instead posting them on the store’s Facebook page and bringing individual cards in when someone wants to buy them.

She also wonders how many more break ins she can take.

The retired social worker of 35 years opened the shop six years ago to keep herself busy but now she’s having second thoughts.

“At some point, I’m just going to say, ‘Enough is enough,’” she said.

At the same time, the thought of closing up shop tugs at her heartstrings.

“I have a very loyal customer base, so many lovely customers, and people genuinely love coming to my store,” she said, adding some spend hours at a time there.

Settle also has a number of volunteers who enjoy helping out, people she thinks about whenever she considers shuttering the business.

“They would be so sad not to have it anymore,” she said.

Howson, too, has thought about what happens next if his store falls victim to another break-in.

“If it happened, it would be interesting,” he said, adding that contents insurance is prohibitively expensive, particularly given the challenge of keeping an up-to-date inventory in a business where merchandise is constantly changing.

“We’ve put so many years into this, we have a whole community behind us. So if we were going to shut it down because of another break in, that would be terrible.”

Meantime, the community is helping soften the blow for Settle.

Another Main Street store moving into a smaller space was expected to donate some of its items Friday to help Settle replenish her shelves.

“Another one of my customers is going around on free giveaway weekend this weekend, seeing what they can find to put on their store shelves,” she said.

Settle also praised her landlord, who repaired and reinforced the hole in the wall and her back door, as well as neighbouring businesses in the strip mall that have kept watch over her shop in the days since the break in.

Settle said local trading card and collectible stores have been notified of the theft so they can watch out for anyone attempting to sell the stolen items for cash.

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca