KELLER, Texas — Police are looking for a pair of thieves who stole dozens of rare Pokémon cards from a Keller toy and gift store.
Security cameras inside Griff's Gifts caught the duo breaking in around 7 a.m. Monday, Aug. 12. The video shows the burglars smashing through the glass front door with a chair from the next-door restaurant's patio.
While one burglar waited outside, the other jogged directly to the glass display cases near the back of the store. He broke off the case doors and scooped the expensive cards into a duffel bag, the video shows.
"It's just a violation of our store and our not being there," owner Rebecca Griffin told WFAA Sunday. "It was really upsetting."
The store's security system pinged Griffin's phone during the break-in. In real-time, she watched the thieves escape with Pokémon cards she estimates are worth about $2,000.
"Charizard took the brunt of it," she joked, making reference to a stuffed Pokémon plushie that fell from atop the display cases during the incident.
The broken front door and display cases also cost about $2,000 to replace, she said.
The burglary took about one minute.
Cameras outside the store recorded the duo leaving in a black Lexus sedan with black rims and a damaged front bumper. Griffin said investigators believe the car's license plates were stolen.
Trading cards have become common targets for thieves. Their value soared during the pandemic, as thousands of adults re-engaged with the hobby they adopted as children.
In July, thieves took nearly $2 million in baseball cards from a kiosk at the Dallas Card Show at the convention center in Allen.
Griffin noted that few collector's items are more "portable" than trading cards.
Since the burglary, Griff's Gifts has restocked its display cases with less expensive Pokémon cards. She and her husband, Sean, say their young customers seem most affected by the burglary.
"You can tell they're really bothered by it," he said.
Some children have offered to donate their own collections to the store, the Griffins said.
Another regular patron, too young to write legibly, hand-delivered an encouraging note to the store hours after the burglary.
"The community has been awesome with us," Sean said.