CHICAGO — The owners of several Chicago streetwear shops have woken up over the past week to SUVs through their storefronts.
Police are warning of burglars — still at large — that have hit at least eight businesses in crash-and-grabs since Oct. 24. In each incident, two to seven people wearing masks have stolen merchandise with a calling-card tactic: ramming a car through the store’s security gates, police said.
Many of the stores reporting the crimes are locally owned streetwear resellers, and Wicker Park’s Milwaukee Avenue shopping strip has been hit hard.
Streetwear shops burglarized recently include Round Two, Boneyard, Urban Jungle, Unique Chicago, Endless Supply and Flee Club. Some have been forced to temporarily close as they make repairs.
One shop owner estimated his store’s damages and stolen property amounted to $1 million, according to police reports obtained by Block Club.
A Louis Vuitton store Downtown was also hit in a crash-and-grab last week, according to police reports.
The majority of the cars left at the scene have been stolen Jeep Grand Cherokees, which are possibly being broken into with the help of viral TikTok videos showing how to hack the cars’ computer systems, a source familiar with the investigations said.
After ransacking the stores, burglars flee in several getaway cars, police said. Some of the brazen crashes have been captured on surveillance video.
Some of the Wicker Park business owners have reported what appears to be their stolen luxury streetwear items quickly posted for sale on Facebook Marketplace, said Jacob, owner of Boneyard, 1102 N. Ashland Ave., who asked not to use his last name out of safety concerns.
“We’re always hit the hardest right before every holiday season. People are out of money and the stores are stocked,” Jacob said. “Resale stores like us are relatively new, and it seems these people have figured they can grab expensive stuff from small businesses that might not be as secure as corporations like Neiman Marcus or Saks 5th Avenue.”
A crew tried to crash and burglarize Boneyard around 4:15 a.m. Oct. 26 — but couldn’t get the Jeep all the way through the store’s industrial security gates, Jacob said. But the shop owner is still “going through the hassle again” of filing insurance claims for damages, he said.
He said he has spent about $80,000 on security measures, which have helped to fend off routine break-attempts at Boneyard since it opened in 2016.
“It’s not personal, it’s monetary. This is just where they think they’ll have the easiest time,” Jacob said. “You try not to lose much sleep over it because it comes with this business. You have to expect this kind of thing to happen. Each time we keep making the storefront more secure. People are after what we’re selling.”
Other streetwear sellers said it’s getting harder to do business in Chicago as robberies rise, with the city’s Northwest Side hit particularly hard.
Sabrian “Boo” Sledge, owner of Flee Club, 2221 W. Taylor St., said the problem had subsided since his store was hit twice in a two-week span last year, for a total of five times in the past two years.
But around 4:30 a.m. Oct. 25, burglars rammed a Jeep Cherokee through Flee Club’s windows and made off with $100,000 in goods — including a Louis Vuitton-Supreme bag and Louis Vuitton Air Force 1s in collaboration with late streetwear icon Virgil Abloh, Sledge said.
The business — which Sledge launched with his childhood best friend out of a Maywood home — was dropped from its insurance coverage due to the high number of claims from the previous robberies and has yet to get new insurance, he said.
Flee Club is closed as Sledge figures out what to do next. He’s started another online fundraiser in hopes of recouping some of the losses.
“What we sell breeds jealousy and envy. But we’re just trying to make an honest living and help the community. We don’t deserve this,” Sledge said. “We can love our city and also say that it is out of control. Don’t need to sugarcoat it. This looks bad on our culture.”
Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) said he’s spoken with Wicker Park streetwear businesses burglarized in his ward and is working with the city’s Department of Transportation to install temporary Jersey walls — concrete barriers often used at Downtown parades — outside stores likely to be targeted.
“It’s not a sustainable solution and causes accessibility problems, but it provides a temporary fix,” La Spata said. “Everyone is frustrated and angry and more than a little scared that people would use their vehicles in such desperate and violent ways.”
The Shakespeare (14th) Police District, which includes Wicker Park, Bucktown and most of Logan Square, has seen 497 robberies as of Oct. 29, compared to 308 at that point last year.
Mayor Brandon Johnson and Police Supt. Larry Snelling have addressed the increase in robberies in recent months, telling reporters they’re taking the problem seriously, using technology and dedicated teams to identify and apprehend robbery suspects.
On Wednesday, a coalition of 10 community groups held a press conference alongside Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), calling on Johnson and Snelling to join them at a public safety meeting Nov. 14 at the Ukrainian Cultural Center, 2247 W. Chicago Ave.
“We haven’t heard the plan. And we understand, like I said, the root causes. We all agree with that, but immediately, what are we doing now?” Villegas said at the presser when asked about the crash-and-grab spree. “When you have people that are continuing to commit crimes and there’s no consequences, this is what you get.”
Overnight Friday, another five businesses were burglarized in West Town and Wicker Park, CBS reports.
Alex Gruezo, owner of Wicker Park vintage store Layers Chicago, 2052 W. North Ave., said he and other local shop owners remain on “very high alert” they could be next.
Gruezo and his employees have resorted to parking their cars in front of their shop in hopes of making it harder to ram through.
“This is a hot spot for theft … These are fresh wounds,” Gruezo said. “It’s not easy to build stores like this. They’re not just stealing product, they’re stealing people’s dreams. These are your neighbors.”
Jacob, owner of Boneyard, said he’s seen a number of independent streetwear shops across the city close after being hit by burglars.
“There’s money to be made in this industry,” Jacob said. “But with great reward comes great risk.”
The owners of Urban Jungle, 1369 N. Milwaukee Ave., chose to stay open after a burglary last week — even with a Jeep in the middle of their store.
“You know how we roll here,” an owner said on Instagram, offering a free pair of designer sneakers to the first customer that day, pulling the pair out of the Jeep’s driver’s seat. “That s— don’t stop us.”
Quinn Myers contributed to this report.
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