Burglars steal around $50K worth of merch from Tacoma card shop

Thieves rammed a truck into a Tacoma business early Monday morning, stealing approximately $50,000 worth of Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon cards from Northwest Sportscards on 6th Avenue, according to the Tacoma Police Department.

Don Knutsen, owner of Northwest Sportscards, and the Tacoma Police Department suspect the burglars are connected to a previous break-in attempt at the store. The burglary comes as rising collectible card values have led to increased security issues for sports and gaming card retailers.

Security footage provided by Knutsen shows a black truck, driven by masked burglars, ramming the warehouse entrance shortly after 5 a.m. The thieves quickly packed several containers with hundreds of card boxes, left the building, and returned roughly one minute later to take additional items.

“It hurt. They got us pretty good,” Knutsen said. “These guys had cased the place, no doubt about it.”

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The Tacoma Police Department and Knutsen suspect the burglars are linked to an attempted break-in at the store in July. A third incident occurred in August, when burglars broke a window and stole thousands of dollars in sports cards.

“Same truck, same method for ramming in the door,” Knutsen said.

Knutsen said market changes have contributed to security issues while creating strain for the business and its staff.

“The price of sports cards and memorabilia and gaming cards has skyrocketed since COVID, and, since that time, we’ve had a lot more problems,” Knutsen said. “It’s hard, you know, it’s tough on myself, my wife, my family, the employees here. It’s devastating.”

Knutsen is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. He is also reaching out to other card dealers and shops in case the burglars attempt to sell the stolen inventory.

“Hopefully that will help inspire someone to turn them in, because somebody knows who these guys are,” Knutsen said.