PORTLAND, Ore. — A brick-and-mortar apparel store in downtown Portland was hit by thieves early Tuesday morning, just days before the grand opening.
Co-owner of Drip, Reginald Parham, told KGW News thousands of dollars worth of electronics and merchandise were stolen from the shop on West Burnside Street and Southwest 9th Avenue. He was alerted to the situation early Tuesday, when one of his business partners told him about the smashed storefront window.
"I got a text message from one of my partners, and it had a picture of the window just hanging out. We realized that they cleaned us out," Parham said. "This was a bad one."
Parham said Drip is a Black-owned business and they are trying to get established.
"We're just trying to get started. This is our clothing brand that we came up with, and we went around the city doing pop-ups and all that - to the point where people are buying enough that we can get a store," Parham said.
After three and a half years of selling Chocolate Dope Apparel around Portland,
Parham said it was time for a permanent home. The shop will also feature AC Cream, which is another clothing line.
Despite the burglary, Parham said he won't change locations.
"The city's making a comeback, especially right now. That's why we're down here," he said.
Parham and his team hope Portland police can identify a suspect. Surveillance video from a neighboring business doesn't show much, and unfortunately, Parham explained, their camera system isn't online until later this week.
But he sees the broken glass and boarded up window as just another roadblock — small setback on the road to success.
"You have to think, I'm not originally from Portland so the roadblocks were always in front of me," he said. "There's a lot of dope brands out here, a lot of dope people. So work hard enough to even get to the level I'm at, it takes a lot to stop me from doing what I'm doing anyway."