A Pokémon card store in Manhatten has become the latest target for thieves looking to steal merchandise featuring the lucrative pocket monsters — and this time, customers were held at gunpoint.
Speaking to ABC News, staff at the Poké Court outlet in the Meatpacking District have said that $100,000 worth of stock was stolen in just three minutes, as a team of three robbers burst into the newly-opened store during its first community evening event.
As one thief smashed glass cabinets to obtain expensive items, another held shoppers at gunpoint. A third, meanwhile, kept watch at the door. "It was a free event and then three armed men just came in and brandished guns in [customers'] faces," store owner Courtney Chin said. The shop has since employed a security guard.
ABC News reports that similar thefts have occured in Boston, Los Angeles and Seattle, as the latest in a long line of card shop robberies targeting Pokémon items.
"If you look at any local card shop around the country, there's a good chance they've gotten robbed," Chin added. "I've seen videos where the robbers will tunnel in through the walls, or through the ceiling.
In December, $100,000 worth of stock was also swiped from a store in Burbank — although that was overnight. At the time, Californian cops said they suspected the raid was linked to "half a dozen" similar thefts within the southern half of the state in recent weeks. Numerous other examples have also occured nationwide over the past 12 months.
"We can't let a few bad apples like this ruin the hobby for everyone else," Chin concluded. "We want to create a safe space for the community and it really sucks that like 50 people had to basically get held up and held hostage."
Image credit: ABC News.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
