More than $30,000 in merchandise, including popular plush toys, were stolen from a La Puente shop that specializes in the collectible items.
Surveillance video from the store showed at least four people broke in and ransacked the store to steal Labubus early Wednesday morning.
Labubus are trendy collectibles that are popular with people of all ages with some of the rare or limited versions sold for hundreds of dollars each.
The thieves, who got in by breaking through the front doors, appear to have targeted the valuable toys, according to the owner,
“We do TikTok lives, and we’re on Instagram. People know we’re here,” said Joanna Avendano, who owns the shop.
While all but one security camera inside the store were taken down, Avendano said she had a “gut feeling” to see the video when she woke up Wednesday.
“Once I checked my phone, they were really going to enter the store. I witnessed everything live when they were in here robbing the stuff,” she said.
After she reported the burglary, it took deputies with the LA County Sheriff’s Department about 15 minutes to respond to her business, Avendano said.
“They were aiming just for the Labubus,” she described. “They know because they took the most valuable stuff. They only left the stuff that is not really popular.”
Avendano, who has been at the location for two months, said the burglary is devastating to her business and finances.
“We took a long time to build this business. We spent a lot of money as well in all of our inventory,” she said. “It’s just sad to see that people came in and just stole our stuff.”